The London-Mumbai market is significant, with booking data indicating nearly 700,000 round-trip passengers traveled between the two cities in the year ending July 2025. Most passengers flew nonstop with several carriers, while others connected via Gulf hubs such as Emirates—which recently increased its London services—and Qatar Airways, which partners with British Airways for frequent departures.
IndiGo’s schedule does not offer connections to or from other South Asian or Southeast Asian cities but aims to attract travelers within India. With this new service, there will now be up to nine daily departures between Heathrow and Mumbai—surpassing the previous record of eight daily flights. In October alone, there are expected to be 249 one-way flights on this route, making Mumbai Heathrow’s fifth most-served long-haul destination after New York JFK, Doha, Dubai, and Newark.
Other airlines serving the Heathrow-Mumbai route include Air Canada (four weekly flights), Air India (two daily), British Airways (16 weekly), and Virgin Atlantic (two daily). Air Canada’s operations are seasonal and have been reduced from previously planned daily services.
On November 15, IndiGo plans to start another UK route between Delhi and Manchester despite ongoing airspace detours that increase travel time and costs. This new service will run four times per week and become IndiGo’s third route into the UK.
In addition to IndiGo’s debut at Heathrow on October 26, Nigerian carrier Air Peace will also launch services at the airport after obtaining slots through standard allocation procedures. Air Peace already operates out of Gatwick but sought entry into Heathrow for broader market access despite higher operational complexity.
Looking ahead, more long-haul airlines are expected at Heathrow. Riyadh Air is widely anticipated to make its first international destination at this airport using slots obtained via British Airways’ slot release process; however, its launch may be delayed beyond October. Alaska Airlines has also announced plans for future Heathrow operations starting in 2026 but has not released further details.
Breakdown of flight timings shows multiple departures throughout each day by various carriers serving both directions between Mumbai and London.
"On October 26, IndiGo will take off from Mumbai to London Heathrow. A long time coming, this route was officially announced on October 6, meaning less than three weeks' notice has been given to drive sales and awareness. This is an exceptionally short amount of time. Its codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines and the awareness surrounding its Mumbai-Manchester operation will help somewhat."
"On November 15, IndiGo will launch its second route to Manchester, which will be from Delhi. This is despite the continued detour to avoid Pakistani airspace and the consequent increased time and operating costs. Running four times weekly, it will become IndiGo's third UK route."
"Using slots leased from Virgin Atlantic, IndiGo will serve Heathrow's Terminal 3. It will operate daily from Mumbai to the UK's busiest airport. This will, of course, be on the 338-seat Boeing 787-9 leased from Norse Atlantic, which is increasingly moving away from scheduled flying to focus on leasing and charters."
"As everyone knows, the local London-Mumbai market is enormous. In the 12 months to July 2025, booking data shows that nearly 700,000 round-trip passengers flew between the two cities. IndiGo will target a proportion of this traffic, along with passengers connecting across India generally. Its schedule does not connect to/from cities in wider South Asia or in Southeast Asia."
"In recent days, Emirates added more London flights, with a record 13 daily departures available during the upcoming winter."
"Heathrow-Mumbai will be served by five airlines again..."
"This is why many airlines—including IndiGo—lease them [slots]."
"On October 26th both IndiGo and Air Peace will debut at the UK's busiest airport... It obtained slots for its three weekly services through the usual pool... However it will allow it [Air Peace] to get a foothold at the airport it most desires."
"Despite not being officially announced Heathrow is widely expected to be Riyadh Air's first long-haul destination... It will use slots obtained from British Airways via bmi slot release procedure... Then there's Alaska Airlines which has disclosed Heathrow flights for 2026 but further details are not yet available."
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