BA to fly 35 flights to India

Taking advantage of the new air services agreement between India and the UK, British Airways today decided to increase the number of flights to India to 35 every week from October 2005 from the present 19.

British Airways currently operates daily services from London to Mumbai and Delhi, a three per week service to Kolkata and a two per week service to Chennai.

As per the plans, it will double flights between London and Mumbai from one to two each day. It also plans to start five flights a week between London and Bangalore, as opposed to the new three per week service previously planned. Similarly, services between London and Chennai will go up from two currently to six per week in October 2005.

From March 2006, the airline will also double flights between London and Delhi from one to two each day and will operate a daily service between London and Bangalore from five per week. It also plans to increase frequency of flights between London and Chennai from six per week to a daily service.

According to Robert Boyle, British Airways' director of commercial planning, "The liberalisation of air services between the UK and India is great news for consumers as previous restrictions have prevented us from increasing flights between the two countries.

"British Airways has flown to India for 75 years and is well established in the market. There is a huge demand for extra services and we are delighted that we are now able to satisfy that demand," he said.

The new air services agreement between the two countries also allows the private carriers from India and other carriers from the UK to operate services to India. Travel industry is of the view that the massive capacity addition as a result of this move would lead to fall in air fares.

The new air services agreement between the UK and Indian governments allows UK airlines to operate 42 flights each week from London Heathrow to Mumbai and Delhi from October 2005. This will rise to 49 flights per week from March 2006 and 56 flights per week from October 2006.

From October 2005, UK airlines can operate seven flights per week from the UK to Bangalore and to Chennai. This will rise to 14 per week to both cities from March 2006.