British Airways to add flights, upgrade service to India

No plans for investment or code shares in India, says airline's regional manager

British Airways will add flights to Hyderabad and Chennai and introduce new cabins on its wide body plane fleet this year facing growing competition on India-UK and India-US market. The airline however has no immediate plans to invest in India or enter into code share alliances with domestic airlines.

"We have a strong local market and one of the best networks.  We fly to 19 destinations in the US while Emirates flies to eight cities. However we do not need to focus on London Heathrow solely as a transit hub,'' said Christopher Fordyce, British Airways regional commercial manager.

Over the last few years Dubai and other Gulf airports have emerged as major transit points for Indian travellers. According to a civil aviation ministry report Dubai, Doha, Frankfurt, Singapore, Sharjah are the top five hubs serving India. London stood at sixth place with half a million transit passengers in 2010-11. The re-entry of Virgin Atlantic in Mumbai market has increased competition bringing yields under pressure.

Fordyce,  however, is confident that  its new products and additional flights will enable the airline to consolidate itself in Indian market. The airline will be adding an additional frequency to Hyderabad and Chennai totalling to six  weekly flights.

"We will have brand new cabins on all our planes. Our  aircraft are being retrofitted now. We will also receive the Boieng 787s and Airbus A380s this year. We will be launching a new lounge in Mumbai and upgrading food and beverage service. We are investing five billion pounds to enhance our products and service,'' he said.

"The liberalisation of investment rules in  Indian airlines is positive but at the moment we have no investment plan,'' he said. Fordyce also denied that the airline was in talks with IndiGo for a possible code share alliance. British Airways had code share pact with Kingfisher Airlines on routes in India and Europe.

British Airways has also tied up with Visit Britain, the national tourism agency, to promote Britain as a leisure destination. "We received 3.5 lakh visitors from India last year. There has been a surge in interest in Britain post London Olympics and our target is to get five lakh tourists by 2020,'' said Shivali Suri, country manager of Visit Britain. The organisation has launched a massive marketing campaign in India which is its biggest markets amongst BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) by showcasing British traditions. India is the first overseas market for the promotion which will also be held in China and Japan.