UK-India aviation – IndiGo’s new growth stimulus: Heathrow is its second UK airport
IndiGo's 4-Aug-2025 announcement that it will add London Heathrow to its network from 26-Oct-2025 is a sign of the dynamism in UK-India aviation, which is the largest Western European market to/from India.
London Heathrow will be the Indian low-cost airline's second UK destination after it had launched Mumbai-Manchester services in Jul-2025 (and its third in Western Europe, having also launched Mumbai-Amsterdam). Norse Atlantic is operating these services on behalf of IndiGo until it takes its own widebody deliveries, starting in 2027.
UK-India capacity growth since 2019 has outpaced Europe-India as a whole, thanks to expansion by the incumbents, Air India, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and TUI Airways, and the entry of Air Canada and IndiGo. This has more than made up for the Apr-2019 exit of Jet Airways (which was then the market number two).
Current schedules for the seasonal peak period in winter 2025/2026 suggest that UK-India capacity growth is pausing for breath. Nevertheless, the entry of an ambitious low-cost operator such as IndiGo suggests that any pause will be temporary.
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