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From November 2014, after the 18th Boeing 787 Dreamliner is included into its fleet of aircraft, Air India, India’s national airline, will make its Birmingham-Delhi-Amritsar operation a daily service.
India’s flag carrier, Air India has announced that it will start offering daily flights between Birmingham, Delhi and Amritsar from November, 2014. The airline already offers four times a week service between Birmingham and India; extra number of flights will be added as the carrier’s 18th Boeing 787 Dreamliner is inducted in its fleet.
The airline’s commercial director Pankaj Srivastava said: “Air India is committed to develop and grow in this market and once we have taken the delivery of our 18th Dreamliner aircraft in November, we hope to launch the daily operation from Birmingham Airport. This will provide an extra 1,500 seats a week and give passengers greater choice, flexibility and opportunity to travel from the convenience of Birmingham Airport to Amritsar and Delhi, and onwards on Air India’s extensive global network.”
The airline started providing flights on Birmingham-India route last year, and since then the airline has served more than 80,000 passengers onboard 210 flights. These passengers include business travellers, tourists and others booking air tickets to fly.
State-run, Air India’s current operations include flights from Birmingham each Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on its B787 Dreamliner aircraft. The seat configuration features 18 business class and 238 economy seats, providing significant number of seats for travellers seeking relatively cheap travel tickets.
Birmingham Airport is the United Kingdom’s third largest airport outside London, and handles nearly nine million passengers, annually. Birmingham offers hundreds of possible connections to travellers, making it convenient for travellers who are buying air tickets to fly from India to various parts of the world, via direct and indirect services from Birmingham.
Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport’s chief executive added: “We are extremely thankful to Air India for recognising the demand from travellers needing the flexibility of daily services from Birmingham.
“The West Midlands receives more foreign direct investment from India than any other region outside of London and Birmingham’s VFR market grew by 71% in 2013, now attracting more visitors from India than any English city other than London.
“It’s therefore not surprising that the route has been such a success in its first year and I am certain that a daily service would make the Birmingham route even more appealing to Midlands’ travellers.”
The rise in the number of flight service between Birmingham and India marks the heightened demand for air tickets on the route. In 2012, 8,261 Indians booked air tickets to land in Birmingham; the number went up to 14,131 in 2013.