Virgin Atlantic boss says UK costs hitting trade with India He made the comments on the first day of a Virgin Atlantic and UK Trade and Investment-led trade mission to New Delhi and Mumbai, designed to introduce British businesses and entrepreneurs to their Indian counterparts. We've got a very big delegation of UKTI guests here with us, and that's all about attracting business into the UK and vice versa, and that seems to be what the Government's agenda is. They need the economy to grow. "But sometimes these policies are in conflict with each other, which seems a bit irrational to me," he told The Daily Telegraph. Visas and taxation is a perpetual issue around generating and growing traffic between our two countries. You can go to Europe and get a Schengen visa for 25 countries but you still have to get one visa for the UK which is more expensive than the European one. He admitted that the restrictions hurt not just business travel, but also holiday flights to India. It is an issue Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group, which owns Virgin's rival British Airways, has raised publicly on a number of occasions. UK government sources however insisted 95pc of all Indian business visa requests are accepted, hinting that this was probably a higher rate than in the Schengen region. However the sources did acknowledge problems with British businessmen getting visas to visit India. The comments come ahead of Virgin Atlantic launching a new route between Mumbai and London, a route which it closed four years ago due to reduced capacity and issues with time slots at Heathrow. Final approval from the Indian regulators for the route, due to start on Monday, October 29, was received on Thursday. Meanwhile Mr Ridgway, who is due to retire in April, disclosed that the airline has appointed headhunter Heidrick & Struggles to find his replacement. Although outsiders suggest chief operating officer Julie Southern as the most likely candidate, Mr Ridgway said a full global search was underway, with the express hope of naming his successor before Christmas.