The Hindu Business Line : ‘India is a very important market for us’

There is a buzz of excitement at the British Airways office in Delhi these days after the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Willie Walsh, announced in London that the airline would be acquiring 24 Boeing-787s and 12 Airbus A-380 aircraft. The new aircraft will start joining the fleet over a four-year period staring 2010.

British Airways’ Area Commercial Manager, Ms Amanda Moss, outlined what the decision to order more aircraft could mean for the Indian market.

Excerpts from an interview:

Is British Airways keen to increase flights to India?

We are constantly evaluating the opportunity and looking at what is the best return on the large investment that is made in acquiring an aircraft.

At the moment we feel that the capacity in terms of flights operated just about matches demand between India and the UK.

However, the announcement of our CEO has provided a window of growth and we are excited about that.

With the new aircraft that have been ordered we can start looking with new gusto at the various cities in India to which these can fly and whether we should look at operating to more cities or expanding services to existing metros.

However, we in India would have to make a strong case for deploying the aircraft here and pitch against other markets which would also be trying to get the new aircraft. At the moment no decision has been taken on where these new aircraft would be deployed. This should become clear in the near future.

So India is not a priority market for the airline?

On the contrary, it is a very important market for us. The Chairman and Chief Executive take India very seriously. The airline has being doing its bit to ensure that the India market is not underserved.

As part of that initiative, in the forthcoming winter schedule, which starts at the end of October this year, we will be making some changes to our India operations.

The two daily flights to Delhi will be operated with a Boeing 747 aircraft while the daily flight to Bangalore would be operated with a Boeing 747 instead of a Boeing 777 that is deployed on the sector at present.

Air India operates flights from India to Birmingham in the United Kingdom, apart from operating to London Heathrow. Would British Airways also look to operate flights from other parts of the UK to India?

British Airways is committed to Heathrow as its hub and we have no plans of operating flights from anywhere else in the UK to India

How successful is the India route for the airline? How does it rank among global routes in terms of revenue generation?

As a policy we do not talk about individual markets.

All I can say is that India is a focus area for the airline — probably the most focused area after the United States.

With the economy showing strong growth, all our routes in India are doing stunningly well.