British Airways connects with B’lore

British Airways connects with B’lore
Deccan Herald

The Garden City is becoming an important market for leisure and business activity in India. And aviation giant British Airways wants to be in the midst of all this activity with its five non-stop direct flights from Heathrow, London to Bangalore. The first direct connection was made when BA 119 touched down at the Bangalore airport on October 31.

BA's CEO Willie Walsh, who is in the City along with the top brass of the airline, three members of British Parliament and a delegation of journalists told mediapersons on Monday that India was an important market for the airline. “Many people are opting to come to Bangalore rather than visit their friends and relatives,'' noted Mr Walsh and added that there was real potential for growth so much so that BA was looking at trebling the number of flights to India in the next couple of years.

‘Fantastic’ response

Expressing satisfaction over the ‘fantastic’ response to the Bangalore-London direct flight, Mr Walsh said passengers had benefitted in more ways than one. He said that 20 per cent of the passengers flying from Mumbai originated from Bangalore and the direct flight would save them the trouble of flying from Bangalore to Mumbai and then to London.

More than 40 per cent of Bangaloreans used London as a transit point before moving on to other European countries and US, making this sector the biggest growing market, he added.

Replying to a question, Mr Walsh said BA was well briefed about the facilities at the Bangalore airport.

“We choose what airports we fly to,” he remarked and added that Bangalore generated a great amount of passenger and freight traffic, making it a significant market.

The importance BA attached to the sector was reflected in the fact that they invested in a special advertisement campaign to woo Indian passengers, Mr Walsh said.

They had done this before only in the United Kingdom and United States, he said.

Andy Stern, General Manager, South Asia, said BA had a significant cargo business too. “We have nine freight services to India every week,” he said.

“BA has been operating in India for 76 years and has been an important part of Indian aviation history. The new direct flight only builds on this long-standing association and reaffirms our commitment to Indian customers,” he added.