Heathrow-Hyderabad: Piling into India
Competition on routes between London and southern India is hotting up.
Kingfisher launched a daily Airbus A330 service linking Heathrow with Bangalore in September, and this month (December), British Airways will begin serving Hyderabad, also from Heathrow.
It will be BA’s sixth destination in India. The carrier already flies into Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras) and Bangalore.
India is a fast-growing destination on BA’s global network. It’s now the carrier’s largest overseas market outside North America. All told, BA operates 48 flights a week to India, up from 19 a week following the liberalisation of services three years ago.
Why Hyderabad?
Robert Boyle, BA’s commercial director, says: “Hyderabad has a fast-growing economy based on IT business process outsourcing and biotech industries. We believe there will be a strong demand for our flights which will be the only direct services between that city and the UK.”
Hyderabad metropolitan area is the fourth largest in India with a population of almost ten million, and its new airport has an ultimate passenger capacity of 50 million. The facility, named Rajiv Gandhi International airport, is located 22km south-west of the city. Transport to the centre is by taxi or airport shuttle bus but a dedicated train link is planned.
Schedules
Flights start on December 6. Initially, BA will fly four times a week before stepping up to a five-times-a-week service from January.
Schedules in January call for flight BA277 to depart Heathrow daily (except Thursday and Sunday) at 1340 arriving at 0440 the following morning. Return service BA276 departs Hyderabad daily (except Monday and Friday) at 0730 arriving into Heathrow at 1255.
BA is using a three-class B777 on the route. It will have a typical capacity of 36 in Club World, 24 in World Traveller Plus and 212 in economy class.
BA’s timings are civilised for those passengers beginning or ending their journeys in the UK, but BA is also wooing those passengers making international connections at Heathrow. In particular, BA will be offering transfers to San Francisco which, now that Kingfisher’s proposed service out of Bangalore (near to Hyderabad) has been stalled, is expected to be of interest.
A BA spokesman says: “We believe we offer a good transfer experience at T5 for customers looking for US cities. We have a good number of lunchtime and afternoon US departures from T5 which we think will prove popular.
“For flights going out to India from T5, a lunchtime departure will allow for smooth connections on our multiple inbound flights from the US which land at T5 during the morning.”
How much?
According to data displayed on ba.com during November, BA will be charging upwards of £380 return in economy, £658 for World Traveller Plus and £1,496 for Club World for flights taken in January.
The competition
BA will face fierce competition from indirect airlines. Emirates, Qatar and Gulf Air operate from Hyderabad to their hubs in Dubai, Doha and Bahrain, then on to Europe (and, in some cases, the US). Keen competition comes from Europe’s KLM and Lufthansa. Both fly direct to their hubs at Amsterdam and Frankfurt with timings unashamedly geared towards attracting transfer passengers both within Europe and North America.
KLM operates with MD-11 aircraft from Amsterdam daily (except Wednesday and Sunday). KL873 departs at 1225 arriving in Hyderabad at 0145. KL874 (daily except Monday and Thursday) departs at 0335 to reach Amsterdam at 0910. But this route will be dropped from January 31, throwing the field open to Lufthansa and BA.
Lufthansa uses an A340-300 for its five-times-a-week service. LH752 leaves Frankfurt daily (except Monday and Friday) at 1130, reaching Hyderabad at 0035. Return flight LH753 (daily except Tuesday and Saturday) leaves Hyderabad at 0225, landing in Frankfurt at 0810.
