New Delhi, Mar 07: Premier British carrier, Virgin Atlantic, wants to sustain its operations in India despite the current restriction of only two flights a week it is being allowed to operate from here, its officials said today. The carrier, which has added a third Delhi-London flight due to the temporary easing of restrictions under the government's open sky policy till this month-end, said the prime reason for it to continue in India was the high passenger load factor it has been getting on its flights and its potential to grow further, Virgin's chief operating officer Lyell Strambi told a press conference here. "We are taking a long-term view (of continuing India operations) ... And are determined to be a long-term player," he said, adding that the debate on whether virgin would pull off as it was not being allowed to expand its operations beyond the two weekly flights "is over and behind us".

Stating that the airline had increased the strength of its Indian cabin crew from 12 to 28 as also of its ground staff, Strambi said, "If opportunity allows, we would like to continue the third flight further".


The passenger load factor on the London-Delhi sector in January was 83 per cent and as high as 96 in February, he said, adding that the advance bookings had already recorded 62 per cent on London-Delhi route and 91 per cent on Delhi- London. Bureau Report