5 airlines now fly from London to Mumbai as IndiGo joins for the 1st and Air Canada resumes flights
October 26, 2025
A total of five airlines now fly between London Heathrow (LHR) and Mumbai (BOM) as both IndiGo and Air Canada begin their flights today. For IndiGo, this is a brand-new flight, marking an important step in its ongoing long-haul expansion.
Air Canada is resuming the route, having last flown it in February 2024. It is a fifth-freedom service that connects Toronto with Mumbai via London.
Air Canada rejoins the London-Mumbai market
Coinciding with the start of the aviation winter season today, Air Canada resumed its London to Mumbai flight. It is part of an overall routing between Toronto and Mumbai. Previously, the carrier flew between Toronto and Delhi via London, and nonstop between Toronto and Mumbai but has decided to end both of these services. Both legs are also bookable separately.
The first flight departed London at 12:36 local time today. The Boeing 787 is registered C-GHPX and touched down in London from Toronto earlier in the morning. It is expected to arrive in India at around 02:43.
Air Canada will operate this segment at four weekly frequencies.
IndiGo lands in London for the first time
IndiGo’s flight marks its London debut after having inaugurated long-haul flights to Manchester and Amsterdam earlier in the year. A route between Mumbai and Copenhagen also opened earlier this week.
Its first flight to Heathrow landed at 19:19 and used one of its Boeing 787s that have been leased from Norse Atlantic Airways. It will operate between Mumbai and London on a daily basis as IndiGo (6E) flight 1. The return journey is 6E 2. Today’s flight took 9 hours and 42 minutes to complete.
IndiGo has leased the majority of Norse’s fleet. The low-cost long-haul airline has struggled with its transatlantic network, shifting focus to other regions of the world and more stable ACMI operations.
It plans to continue expanding its long-haul network with leased planes ahead of the arrival of its first Airbus A350s. New flights between Manchester and Delhi will begin next month, complementing the existing link to Mumbai. It will also leverage its upcoming Airbus A321XLRs for new, thinner routes. The inaugural flights will be to Athens from both major Indian cities, thrice weekly each.
UK-India flight expansion
The new flights follow announcements in recent weeks from Air India and British Airways – two of the other three operators on the route – that they will be increasing frequencies to India in line with growing demand. This primarily concerns flights between London and Delhi rather than Mumbai, where Air India has shifted up to four daily as of today, while British Airways plans to move to three daily in September 2026.
Virgin Atlantic, the third other operator between London and Mumbai, is de facto increasing its own market share on the India-England market through its joint venture partners. IndiGo signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Virgin Atlantic and Air France-KLM for a partnership earlier this year. Virgin Atlantic agreed to lease slots to IndiGo for its Heathrow debut.
Overall, information from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows the following weekly frequencies this winter between London and Mumbai:
- IndiGo: daily with a Boeing 787
- Air Canada: four weekly with a 787
- Air India: 14 weekly with its Boeing 777-300ERs
- British Airways: 16 weekly with 787s, 777s, and Airbus A350s
- Virgin Atlantic: 14 weekly with its 787s and A350-1000s
Featured image: Norse Atlantic Airways
