Virgin Atlantic has announced a new codeshare deal with Indian airline IndiGo to enhance travel connections between the UK and India.

The agreement will initially allow Virgin passengers flying from London Heathrow to Delhi and Mumbai to connect to another seven cities in India served by IndiGo. The codeshare will be further extended later this year to cover a total of 16 destinations throughout India.

The initial codeshare destinations in India will be: Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa, Delhi and Mumbai. These codeshare flights can be booked through Virgin Atlantic from this week for travel after 27 September.

The second phase of the process will see Virgin¡¯s code added on IndiGo flights to Kochi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Pune, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Vadodara, Indore and Vishakhapatnam.

Juha Jarvinen, chief commercial officer at Virgin Atlantic, said: ¡°This summer marks our largest ever flying programme from India with three daily direct services to London and our new partnership takes our commitment to even greater heights.??

¡°IndiGo is India¡¯s largest airline and its extensive network will offer Virgin Atlantic customers even more choice when travelling between the UK and India, as well as offering seamless connections for the onward travel across our extensive US route network.¡±?

IndiGo¡¯s CEO Ronojoy Dutta added:?¡°This will not only help offer a seamless travel experience from London to as many as 16 destinations in India, but also open up international trade opportunities throughout the country via enhanced accessibility.¡±