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From October 25 this year, Delhi will become the first route on British Airways’ global network on which the Boeing 787-900 aircraft will be deployed. With British Airways taking delivery of the first Boeing 787-900 aircraft in September this year, Moran Birger, Commercial Manager, South Asia, British Airways outlines some of the advantages that a customer travelling on the morning flight to London will experience.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
What is the big announcement that the Delhi market can look forward to when flying with British Airways from October 25 this year?
The morning flight will be operated with the Boeing 787-900 and the bigger first is that we will have a brand new first class cabin on this aircraft.
Will the Delhi route be the launch for the aircraft?
Delhi will become the first route on the global British Airways network on which the Boeing 787-900 aircraft will operate; it will also be the new product first. The new first is something which we have designed exclusively for this aircraft. The reason no one has sat on it yet is because it is brand new. No one has seen it yet.
The first class has been designed exclusively for this particular aircraft. It has been designed by a British design company. If you see the cabin, it is much more intimate and more exclusive. It is designed with 8 seats instead of the usual 14.
It is about putting the customer back at the heart. There is a lot more storage area. There are four new storage compartments for anything from shoes to handbags to where you charge your electrical equipment it has a discreet compartment to hide them away and a small vanity mirror as well.
As regards in-flight entertainment there are some nice enhancements -- a screen which is 50 per cent larger than the existing one. There is a 23 inch screen now. The controller has been adjusted so that it almost looks like a smart phone where you can not only control your entertainment but also watch something on a smaller screen. For example you can enjoy a movie on a 23 inch screen and also have a moving map.
But haven’t you already started that?
Earlier what you could do was split the screen and have the movie kind of come down (the screen) and have the moving map. Here you can have the moving map on the controller and also have the movie on the full screen.
It will be a fixed screen which means that our customers will benefit from gate-to-gate entertainment. From the moment they get on to the aircraft until the moment they get off they can watch in-flight entertainment. Don’t need to wait for the aircraft to take off or stop after it has landed.
At the moment with the first class seat the screen swivels so it needs to be put away. But in new first it will be a fixed screen so you can watch all the time.
What about passengers in the other three cabins?
A: In the 787-900 in Club World (business class) the middle seat is much more private. It is a single middle seat instead of two. Our World Traveller and World Traveller Plus will benefit from newer seats and newer in-flight entertainment.
Which of the two daily flights from Delhi will be operated with the new Boeing aircraft?
It will be the morning flight from Delhi and the evening departure from London.
What does the induction of the new aircraft do to the existing number of seats offered by the airline to Delhi?
787-900 and 777 are pretty similar in terms of capacity. We are also going to be operating the Boeing 747 on the other flights from Delhi. So there will be an increase in capacity from what we are flying right now.
Q: What about your other destinations like Chennai or Bengaluru?
A: If you see Hyderabad or Chennai they are already operating the Boeing 787-800. It is a very, very new aircraft. Over the past few years we have increases capacity, we have increased frequencies there.
We essentially have a daily operation out of every Indian city that we fly to.
Pricing is determined by demand and supply but any special promotion for this new aircraft?
We have an offer out from tomorrow where we are giving discounts of up to 50 per cent on the fare.
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