Air India has worked overtime to fix its International network to maximise revenue while it can. In 2023, Air India transitioned flights from non-metro airports in India to London Gatwick. Flights from Amritsar, Goa, Ahmedabad and Kochi were transitioned from London Heathrow to London Gatwick.

Air India operations in London.

Currently, Air India operates the following flights to and from London:

• Delhi: Twice Daily (operated with the A350) and one flight thrice a week to London Heathrow.
• Mumbai: Twice Daily to London Heathrow
• Amritsar: Thrice a week to London Gatwick
• Goa Mopa: Thrice a week to London Gatwick
• Cochin: Thrice a week to London Gatwick
• Ahmedabad: Thrice a week to London Gatwick
• Bengaluru: Five weekly flights to London Gatwick

Air India will withdraw the three-times-a-week operation to London Heathrow from Delhi, as the slots it leased from Garuda Indonesia are no longer with them.

Air India will transition Bengaluru flights from London Gatwick to London Heathrow.

The slot coordinator for London Heathrow, ACL, updated its filings to reflect that Air India has leased 12 weekly slots from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) for the Northern Winter (2024) schedule, which starts on October 27, 2024. These include six arrival and departure slots. One slot pair is needed to fly in and out of London Heathrow.

Now, Air India is going to use these slots to transfer its Bengaluru—London Gatwick flights, which were launched in August 2024, to London Heathrow. With Air India designating Bengaluru as a hub airport, it is more suitable to fly to LHR over LGW for this prime route pair. The airline will operate the flight with the 787-8 aircraft, which is currently how the flight is being operated to LGW. Air India says the flight will now be a daily offering, but I don’t understand where the seventh day’s slot pair is coming from so far.

As you can see, here are the flight operations till October 25, 2024, to LGW.

Here are the flight operations effective October 27, 2024, into LHR.

The tricky part, though, will be the turnaround time. Here are the currently planned times of operations for BLR – LHR.

AI133 BLR 14:20 – 19:30 LHR 787-8 x6
AI132 LHR 21:05 – 12:20 BLR 787-8 x6

I’d like to point out that even pre-privatisation, the Bengaluru – London city pair offered by Air India was between Bengaluru and London Heathrow in 2018.

Bottomline

Air India will switch its Bengaluru – London operations from London Gatwick to London Heathrow at the turn of the Northern Winter Schedule on October 27, 2024. The airline operated flights between Bengaluru and London Heathrow back in the day, and it will return to LHR for at least six months. Simultaneously, the third Delhi – London Heathrow flight will be closed due to the need for leased operating slots.

What do you think of Air India’s planning to transition from LGW to LHR for its Bengaluru flight? 

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