British Airways completed 30 years of operations on the Chennai-London route this year. The airline launched its first flight from London to Chennai on November 3, 1988 and at that time was flying the route twice a week. Now, it operates five flights a week on the route. In an interaction with BusinessLine, Robert Williams, Head of Asia Pacific and Middle East Sales at British Airways, talks about the airline’s plans for India.
What is the roadmap for British Airways in India?
We are 90 years in India, 30 years in Chennai, and in 2019, we will celebrate our centenary of flying.
We fly 49 times a week to five places in India now. We are always growing the global network. Increasing the network doesn’t necessarily mean more flights. We recently signed a codeshare agreement here with Vistara, and that’s a big step ahead now in our roadmap. Not only are we offering people seamless journeys on the routes that we fly, but also seamless connections to the other cities in India and to the many places that they fly.
We have been investing a lot recently, £4.5 billion in new products and services; that includes new aircraft. We have been bringing in our A380s and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
We are also investing in some of our softer sides, such as our catering proposition. We have signed a partnership with The White Company, a UK luxury bedding company, to make sure that our business-class passengers have the most comfortable journey they could get.
We have made sure that the food we offer has had a real re-imagination in all cabins. We always like to have a fine balance between the local flavour and being a global carrier as we are.
We have some customers here who appreciate that we offer local cuisine and local language entertainment. We have staff who can take care of our customers and speak the local languages.
At the same time, we make sure we are appealing to a global audience who want the latest global flavours, entertainment and the latest technological advances. We are rolling out Wi-Fi across the fleet; that should be complete next year.
Are global airlines such as yours also facing the cost pressures seen by carriers in India?
If I talk specifically about British Airways, our published financial results over the last few years show that we have been improving our performance year-on-year. We operate in a very competitive environment; it’s a good thing for our customers and for us because we keep innovating and investing.
14/12/18 Anand Kalyanaraman/Business Line
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What is the roadmap for British Airways in India?
We are 90 years in India, 30 years in Chennai, and in 2019, we will celebrate our centenary of flying.
We fly 49 times a week to five places in India now. We are always growing the global network. Increasing the network doesn’t necessarily mean more flights. We recently signed a codeshare agreement here with Vistara, and that’s a big step ahead now in our roadmap. Not only are we offering people seamless journeys on the routes that we fly, but also seamless connections to the other cities in India and to the many places that they fly.
We have been investing a lot recently, £4.5 billion in new products and services; that includes new aircraft. We have been bringing in our A380s and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
We are also investing in some of our softer sides, such as our catering proposition. We have signed a partnership with The White Company, a UK luxury bedding company, to make sure that our business-class passengers have the most comfortable journey they could get.
We have made sure that the food we offer has had a real re-imagination in all cabins. We always like to have a fine balance between the local flavour and being a global carrier as we are.
We have some customers here who appreciate that we offer local cuisine and local language entertainment. We have staff who can take care of our customers and speak the local languages.
At the same time, we make sure we are appealing to a global audience who want the latest global flavours, entertainment and the latest technological advances. We are rolling out Wi-Fi across the fleet; that should be complete next year.
Are global airlines such as yours also facing the cost pressures seen by carriers in India?
If I talk specifically about British Airways, our published financial results over the last few years show that we have been improving our performance year-on-year. We operate in a very competitive environment; it’s a good thing for our customers and for us because we keep innovating and investing.
14/12/18 Anand Kalyanaraman/Business Line
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