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(16 December 2004)
BRITISH Airways has joined rivals Virgin and BMI by announcing it too will appeal for more flights to India.
The airline has been awarded seven extra direct routes on top of
the 19 it already has by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Despite being given new routes to Chennai and Bangalore, a
spokeswoman said BA does not have enough to compete against
indirect carriers.
She said: “We’re pleased we’re going to increase our frequency to India but we’d like an opportunity to increase our services to Delhi and Mumbai.”
She added that while BA now has 26 direct flights a week to India, carriers like Emirates still have an edge with 25 flights a week from Dubai to India and 77 from Dubai to the UK.
She criticised the CAA, which in the same ruling awarded Virgin Atlantic 10 flights and BMI four, both of which are also appealing.
She said: “We believe the CAA rejected our application in favour of multi-airline routes.”
The appeal is being launched as Bangalore ministers finally approve plans for a new international airport after stalling for more than five years.
