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British Airways has signed a new codeshare partnership with Indian airline Vistara.
Passengers travelling after Thursday 27 September 2018 from London Heathrow to Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai will be able to book onward connections to a number of domestic destinations in India.
Destinations covered by the codeshare include Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Goa, Kolkata, Kochi, and Pune. BA used to fly Amritsar and Kolkata direct. As is the norm for codeshare partnerships, these can only be booked when connecting to/from a BA operated flight between London Heathrow and India. Flights are on sale now at ba.com
From a cursory scan of timetables on ba.com the suitability of connections does vary widely.
On outbound flights from London Heathrow it is possible to secure a connection time of around two hours on many routes as there are BA flights that arrive in Delhi and Mumbai in the morning. However, as BA flights from Delhi to Mumbai to Heathrow leave in the early hours or mid-morning it is difficult to secure an inbound connection without a long connection time or an overnight stay.
Vistara operates a fleet of more than 20 Airbus A320 aircraft in a three class configuration. The airline started operations in 2015 and is a joint-venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons Ltd.
BA has long sought a domestic airline partner in India. It is one of its most important markets, but with a very volatile aviation sector. Many years BA ago did explore securing a local franchise partner, but to no avail.
