British Airways, which flies 49 flights a week to India, invest significantly in the in-flight products and service enhancement. Recently, the airline has invested GBP 600 million and partnered with The White Company to enhance the bedding of their Club World product. In the coming few months this upgradation will be done also for the India market.
Speaking about the development, Robert Williams, Head of Sales – Asia Pacific and the Middle East, British Airways said, “In 2017, we introduced new aircrafts into our fleet, launched new routes, and we have done a significant investment in development of our products. Last year, we invested GBP 600 million in revolutionising our club world. We have been rolling Wi-Fi on our long haul aircrafts this year, offering full streaming capabilities. As part of the Club World investment, we have introduced a partnership with the White company, which is a high end English bedding company. We are rolling out this product onboard our aircraft to enhance our customer sleep preposition. We will bring this in the Indian market in the next few months.”
British Airways is the first airlines who are all set to introduce non reclining seats in their short haul flights. This move will allow the airlines to accommodate more travellers on-board. Williams said, “We don’t make any business decisions without testing the waters and without knowing the customers’ needs. Customers are not so inclined for the seats to recline in short haul routes. The key thing is to get a seat. This brings a new design of seats which will be comfortable for all.”
As a part of the enhancement programme, earlier this year British Airways had announced a multi-million pound investment in its World Traveller (long-haul economy cabin) catering, introducing an expanded new menu, which provides more quantity and quality to both meals and snacking options throughout the flight.
“The investment in enhancing the in-flight catering has got some very good response from the customers. We have specifically in detail changed the Club World catering and we have changed the service style and catering preposition in the cabin to be more restaurants like. The response has been extremely positive. We are also changing the catering in our economy cabin to make sure that people are getting the food they expect,” Williams added.
The airline has no plans to further expand geographically in India. “We have 49 flights a week from India to UK which is a significant number. Outside of the US, India is the biggest international market that we have. We fly twice a day to Delhi and Mumbai and once to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. We are always changing the aircraft types to India. In summer, we bring one of the larger aircrafts to Delhi. We are always looking for more such opportunities. We had a good load factor. The Indian market is a core market for us in all of the cabins. We are positioning ourselves to all segments of travellers. India has a booming middle class segment. People are looking more and more to travel. Whenever we introduce new routes we always get a very good response from this market. We are launching Seychelles, Nashville, Tennessee this year. We are providing connectivity to the Indians through London, which is very well received,” he said.
Students and VFR has emerged as a big segment for British Airways from India. Students are also a huge segment when it comes to transiting through UK. Williams said, “Students remain to be a very important segment to British Airways, a lot of students here wants to go and study in the United States and Canada. We also see a large student population who go and study in UK. We have world-class universities in UK. When students go, their families come to visit and they go home, which again is an opportunity for us. It is important for us to engage with students today, as they are business customers tomorrow. VFR remains a big segment for us, the links between India and US and the US is strong.”
