"You only have to look at the current figures to see that there is a huge demand for extra air services between the UK and India," Virgin Atlantic's head of public relations, Paul Moore, said in New Delhi.

"We would like to think that if Virgin Atlantic were to come on to the route we would stimulate the demand in the market, especially for tourism," he added.

A team of senior Virgin Atlantic officials is in India to hold talks with a cross-section of the country's aviation sector and to pave the way for the flamboyant Virgin group chairman.

"The purpose of our visit this week is to prepare the ground for the visit of Richard Branson at the beginning of December where he is speaking at the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry conference," said Moore.

"Additionally, when he is here, he is meeting with avariety of parties to essentially lobby in favour of Virgin being allowed to fly between our two countries," he added.

The current aviation agreement between India and Britain allows only 16 flights a week, a quota that is entirely being used by Virgin's arch-rival, British Airways.

A new agreement allowing additional flights between the two countries has been pending for years. British Airways has also been keen to expand its flights to 22 a week. But talks between the Indian and British governments have stalled repeatedly over the question of giving state-run Air-India additional slots at Heathrow Airport.

"We are exploring the possibility of additional frequencies being granted both to India and United Kingdom. We feel we have a very good chance of gaining those frequencies," said Moore. Moore said air services between India and UK had become so saturated that about a third of the passengers between the two countries have to fly through a third country, increasing flight time.

He said that thetraffic demand was enough to absorb daily flights between London to Delhi and Mumbai.

"Frankly, the demand is there for us to have a daily service to both Delhi and Mumbai. However, as is always the case when you develop a new route, you tend to start with two or three or four air services a week and progressively build up," said Moore. Usually, Virgin starts on a new route with Airbus A340 planes and subsequently brings in Boeing 747s after the market expands.

The airline was banking on the additional values it offers to customers including lower fares for getting permission to fly the India-Britain route, Moore said.