The Hindu : BA flights from Hyderabad, Bangalore soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 25, 2003

National

National

BA flights from Hyderabad, Bangalore soon

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD April 24. British Airways plans to start direct flights from Hyderabad and Bangalore to London very soon as part of the efforts to increase its presence in south India. At present, the airline operates two flights a week from Chennai to London whose frequency it is seeking to increase apart from launching start-up services twice or three times a week from two other State capitals in the south.

A team of British Airways officials, which called on the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, today found the prospect of launching direct flights from Hyderabad `quite promising'. The team included David Richardson, General Manager, International Relations, Andy Stern, General Manager, South Asia, Alok Sawhney, Country Commercial Manager, India, and Rommel Valles, Manager, South India. This is their second visit to Hyderabad to study the feasibility of starting services to London.

Their assessment was that the strong tourism potential in the region could ensure sustainability of the services by attracting tourists from Europe and the United States while the healthy growth in the software industry and business in general could justify the direct services. "We see a strong development in the economy of south India and it is our duty to increase our presence in the region."

They told reporters that the Chief Minister was very helpful and supportive of their new plans. The infrastructure in Hyderabad posed no problems since the expansion of the runway, now in progress, was expected to be completed within a short time, they said. It was difficult to specify a date for starting the flights from Hyderabad and Bangalore to London but they would be launched once their application was cleared by the Government of India and other regulatory issues resolved. There were no hassles over the question of reciprocal flights, they added.

Mr. Stern said British Airways would provide plenty of connectivity to North America for passengers flying from India. It was presently operating flights to 23 destinations in North America daily. "The Indian market is very resilient and we consider it important in our scheme of things," he said.

To make its balance-sheet look healthy, the airline had initiated several measures such as giving a golden handshake to 13,000 employees and retiring many aircraft after the post-September 11 economic slowdown. Mr. Stern expected the year-end results for 2002-03, due in May, to reflect a good recovery although the current year had started on a difficult note due to the war in Iraq and the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

British Airways had cut down the frequency of its London-Hong Kong flights from two to one a day on account of SARS although normalcy had been restored in the Gulf sector. While the capacity had dropped last year, there was no reduction in business since it had introduced superior products such as `flat beds' in its business class.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National