Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Nov 12, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Nov 12, 2005 |
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Airlines British Airways has plans galore for India Madhumathi D.S.
Recently in London , THE year 2005 is India's year, as British Airways (BA) sees it. Bangalore, with the highest number of outbound fliers, figures prominently in its gameplan, according to senior BA officials. The world's second largest airline has, in the last couple of months, rolled out an aggressive campaign in the Indian market. It started with a £2-million multi-medium advertising blitz led by `The world is waiting' and the `BA galore' campaigns to herald its direct, non-stop flights connecting London with Bangalore. This is the first made-for-India campaign and features its hostess, identified as `Louise', as the face of BA in India."India is a key market. Our growth is focused here," Mr Robbie Baird, Area GM for South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and Africa, told visiting journalists at the airline's Waterside HQ at Heathrow. For the first time, India featured on its worldwide ticket offers and figured among the top five in seat sales. Its online check-in or `print your boarding pass' scheme, available only in Europe and the US, is now available in India, at Bangalore. The airline is working out plans to start online payments with two banks and expects some progress in the coming months. It has added 60 new jobs and cabin crew. "I don't think we have ever done this," Mr Baird said. The five-times-a-week flight from Bangalore, launched on October 31, was the fifth and the first non-metro destination for BA. It expects Bangalore to capture a significant flier base to London as well as onward into Europe and the US. The airline has increased its flights from India from 19 to 35 a week — a capacity jump of 106 per cent year-on-year for the winter schedule. For domestic travel of inward passengers, BA has inked a pact with Air Sahara. Currently, India ranks fourth among BA markets after the UK, the US, and Europe; it accounted for 10 per cent of its 2004-05 revenue of £650 million. The Indian share is closing in on the German market level, Mr Baird said, without giving numbers. "We have been waiting for a long time. We have been desperately short of capacity until now." After 9/11, BA has managed to keep its head up; in 2004, it sprang back to the top of 21 airlines with a combined operating profit $6 billion. The importance it places on the Indian market should be gauged from the speed and extent of upscaling of its operations, according to Mr Baird. In October, along with the Bangalore services, it announced the doubling of once-a-day Mumbai flights, to be followed up with Delhi in the summer of 2006. Chennai flights have been trebled to six a week. "There are no plans yet for more routes. I would prefer to grow Bangalore and Chennai first before starting new routes. This year is India's year." Online preferences are up 150 per cent since last year, said Mr Jamie Cassidy, Senior Manager, Long Haul Propositions. "More customers visit our Web sites than our flights." Apart from the 220 self-service check-ins at 39 airports, BA has also invested in Europe's current biggest aviation infrastructure project: the airline's exclusive Terminal 5 at Heathrow, which is meant to change the airport experience, will be opened by 2008.
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