India: Getting There

The international travel can be on direct or indirect flights. Direct flights do not require a change of plane and may or may not be non-stop. Indirect flights entail a change of plane en route. Direct flights tend to be quicker but more expensive.

Direct Flights

Direct flights do not require a change of plane and may or may not be non-stop. They tend to be quicker but more expensive than indirect flights.

British Airways, Air India and Virgin Atlantic operate direct flights to India. Of these British Airways has the largest number of flights with daily connections to Delhi and Mumbai, three flights a week to Kolkata and two to Chennai. All British Airways flights are direct non-stop and it is possible to land at one port and return from another.
British Airways travel options

Air India has the next largest number of flights and also covers the four metro cities and other cities including Trivandrum, Cochin, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Goa and Bangalore. Flights to Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad are direct while those to other destinations are indirect.

Virgin Atlantic operates daily flights to Delhi and three a week to Mumbai, all direct non-stop.

Flying time to Delhi or Mumbai, from London, on a direct non-stop flight of say, British Airways or Air India, is about 9 hours. The direct flights to Chennai or Kolkata take about 10 hours. The return flights take slightly longer because of headwinds.

Indirect Flights

For indirect flights the European carriers offer a good option of a short hop to the Continent followed by the long haul to the Subcontinent. These include Air France, Lufthansa, KLM, Austrian Airways, etc. These take between 11 to 12 hours to Delhi or Mumbai, including the transit time and slightly longer to Chennai or Bangalore.

There is further choice of indirect flights among Middle-Eastern carriers including Emirates, Qatar, Gulf Air, Royal Jordanian & Kuwait Airways. Here the change of aircraft takes place midway in the journey and the total time taken is 13 to 15 hours. One advantage of these carriers is the option of taking a stopover in the Middle East in places such as Dubai, Doha or Amman.

Our airline choices

Because of its coverage, reliability and frequency of flights, we use British Airways for our group tours landing in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata. For independent travellers we use a variety of carriers, as best suited to the tour.

For the South India tours landing in Cochin or Trivandrum, the Middle-Eastern carriers offer the best connections, in particular Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Gulf Air.

For tailor-made holidays we use the clients' preferred airline. We are happy to suggest the most suitable carrier.