Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had discussions with (a) Manchester Airport, (b) airlines and (c) other stakeholders on establishing a direct airlink between Manchester and (a) Mumbai and (b) New Delhi.

DfT officials hold regular discussions with airlines, airports and international partners, including India, to facilitate global connectivity. Routes operated, and the flights on those routes, between the UK and India are a commercial decision made freely by airlines not by the Government.

The Indian authorities have recently announced the lifting of their ‘air bubble’ restrictions from 27^th March. This had limited the number of services permitted to operate between the UK and India. Services between the UK and India will resume under the terms of the UK-India Air Services Agreement (ASA) that has no restrictions on routes between New Delhi and Mumbai and Manchester airport.