British Airways, which has been operating in India for almost a century, is keen to increase flights to New Delhi and Mumbai in view of the increase in demand for air travel in the country as it sees ‘expansion potential’ as well as more A lot is also visible. Balanced demand growth after the coronavirus pandemic.
The airline also officially opened its new hub in the country with over 2,000 employees including 1,700 call center employees.
British Airways Chairman and CEO Sean Doyle on Friday (June 30) said that the carrier is seeing more balanced growth in India, and has therefore increased its weekly flights to 56 compared to pre-pandemic levels, up from 49 earlier. There used to be flights. in a week.
The demand for air travel in India has increased and there is “room for expansion”, he said, adding that the airline is undertaking restructuring and modernization of which India is an important part.
Doyle said the airline would like to expand flights to Delhi and Mumbai, which are subject to bilateral air services agreements. Currently, the carrier operates 56 weekly flights connecting five Indian cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Out of the total, it operates 14 weekly flights to Delhi and 21 weekly flights to Mumbai.
“Mumbai and Delhi are under bilateral air services agreement. As demand increases, economy develops, it is very important that air services keep pace with that,” he said.
The existing bilateral flight rights between India and the UK to Delhi and Mumbai have been fully utilised. The two countries have a liberal air service agreement.
“Our network in the UK is very important to Indian travelers. We have the largest network connecting India to the US, serving 31 cities and an extensive network in Canada,” Doyle said.
‘India is becoming an economic superpower’
Talking about the Indian market, he said that the country is becoming an economic superpower.
“India and the UK are looking to double their trade by 2030. We think our services will play a vital role in this. We have been enabling connectivity between the two countries for 99 years and as we grow, that growth will We’re still evaluating what that will look like,” he said.
The British Airways chief pointed to the potential for growth, saying the airline used to fly to 20-21 cities in the US 15 years ago, which has grown to 31 today.
“There’s no reason why India shouldn’t afford us that rate of network expansion and increase our frequencies in existing markets,” he said.
growing demand for travel
Doyle said the Indian market has strong connecting traffic and also cited the growth of Indian expatriates in the US as a factor in growing travel demand.
British Airways has more than 2,000 employees in the country, the airline’s chief customer officer Calum Lamming said, adding that its total global workforce is more than 35,000 people.
The airline has officially opened its new call center CallBA in Gurugram.
It has 1,400 employees who provide support to customers in the Americas and Europe through the Asia Pacific region. British Airways said in a release that CallBA has doubled in size since 2019.
“British Airways has been flying to India since 1924, making it one of our longest serving and most valued destinations.
(with PTI inputs)
Read this also | British Airways attendant offers in-flight entertainment for adults, posts photos; start investigation
Read this also | High winds forced a British Airways flight to abort landing at Heathrow Airport. Watch