British Airways

British Airways to launch direct flight to Hyderabad :

Flights to Hyderabad land in both the Hyderabad Airport and the Hakimpet Airport, which are situated in the city. British Airways (BA) plans to compete with Indian and other international rivals by increasing its services to India , it has been announced.

Europe's third largest carrier has revealed its intention to launch a new direct service from London to the Indian city of Hyderabad starting in December.

Many experts believe that this is a direct reaction to the announcement that Indian carrier Kingfisher Airways, which is backed by Vijay Mallya, is to start services to London in September.

India is reportedly the second largest market for British Airlines after the US and the airline may therefore use its newest and most modern planes on the Hyderabad service.

Amanda Amos, BA area commercial manager for south Asia, explained to Indian newspaper the Business Standard that " India is an important market to be in right now as its customer base is growing".

"We are listening to what the Indian customer wants from us and will try and offer the same," she added.

However, BA will have to compete with Middle Eastern carrier Emirates, alongside Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa, which have already made significant moves into the Indian market.

British Airways Flights to Hyderabad - Cheap Domestic Airline Tickets

With the new Hyderabad service, British Airways will now operate 48 flights per week, but this is way behind the 135 currently operated by Emirates.

Sriram Narayan, BA's commercial development & deputy commercial manager for south Asia pointed out to the Business Standard that the Britain and India bilateral agreement only opened in October 2005.

"Since then, we have added flights on routes like Mumbai-Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and now Hyderabad ".

"We have exhausted our rights on the Mumbai-Delhi route but the rest of the network in India is still underutilised," he added.

The british airlines is also about to shift its Mumbai services to Heathrow's controversial £4.3 billion Terminal 5.