(CAPA) Virgin Atlantic announced plans to add more Indian destinations over the next 18 months, following consolidation of operations in Mumbai and Delhi. Destinations under consideration include Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Neha Lidder Ganju, Marketing Manager stated, "we have plans to consolidate our position in the Mumbai market and would like to make our roots strong".
Is Virgin Atlantic receiving more aircraft within the next 18 months, or will the current fleet size allow for more expansion?
Behramjee From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 4447 posts, RR: 43 Reply 1, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 3188 times:
I would make VS fly to BLR to get rid of the BA monopoly on this extremely high yielding route in order to gain a decent chunk of the market share as VS has an excellent premium product and brand name recognition to match. It will get a lot of feeder traffic from its USA network as well as decent O&D from London itself.
Nimish From India, joined Feb 2005, 3078 posts, RR: 9 Reply 3, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 3087 times:
Quoting Behramjee (Reply 1): BLR to get rid of the BA monopoly on this extremely high yielding route
If it is really extremely high yielding I'm surprised 9W has not started on this route as yet.. Is it really that high yielding given LH's 744 and AF's 332 every night (for the India-US market)?
Behramjee From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 4447 posts, RR: 43 Reply 4, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2869 times:
Quoting Nimish (Reply 3): If it is really extremely high yielding I'm surprised 9W has not started on this route as yet.. Is it really that high yielding given LH's 744 and AF's 332 every night
Yes the BLR-LHR-BLR route is indeed high yielding for BA...otherwise they wouldnt upgrade the route from B 772ER to B 744. They did specifically to cater for the surge in demand for their F & J class cabin class seats.
Quoting Nimish (Reply 3): given LH's 744 and AF's 332 every night (for the India-US market)?
AF and LH's main target market for BLR is USA bound pax where as for BA its different. For BA, the target is O&D from LON to BLR which sees decent amount of traffic year round + USA/Canada bound traffic via LHR.
Feroze From India, joined Dec 2004, 794 posts, RR: 3 Reply 5, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2825 times:
Quoting Behramjee (Reply 4): Yes the BLR-LHR-BLR route is indeed high yielding for BA...otherwise they wouldnt upgrade the route from B 772ER to B 744. They did specifically to cater for the surge in demand for their F & J class cabin class seats.
When I flew LHR-BLR on BA at the end of May, it was on a 3-class 777 (no F). I think the route is/was operated with a 4-class aircraft only once or twice a week.
In addition, I returned from India on BA CCU-LHR, again on a 3-class 777.
Quoting Mk777 (Reply 2): Do you think CCU can get VS 3x a week?? It would be a good competition to BA.
AI also fly this route 3 x weekly with a 777 on the DEL-DAC-CCU-LHR-CCU-DAC-DEL routing.
Alangirvan From New Zealand, joined Nov 2000, 2091 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2433 times:
BMI suspended their service to Mumbai, so I think this would give a daily frequency that would be available to a UK based airline to India. Since Kingfisher has announced a code sharing deal with CO to the USA, would a similar deal with VS be possible to the UK, while Kingfisher waits to get its international routes?
Nimish From India, joined Feb 2005, 3078 posts, RR: 9 Reply 8, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2418 times:
Quoting Behramjee (Reply 4): Yes the BLR-LHR-BLR route is indeed high yielding for BA...otherwise they wouldnt upgrade the route from B 772ER to B 744. They did specifically to cater for the surge in demand for their F & J class cabin class seats.
Cool - I don't really doubt the statement given that LH also upgraded to a 744 last winter... But the question was more around whether there was any public information available to that effect.
Quoting Behramjee (Reply 4): For BA, the target is O&D from LON to BLR which sees decent amount of traffic year round + USA/Canada bound traffic via LHR.
Interesting. There's certainly bound to be more O&D to LON than to say FRA or CDG, but good to hear that there's sufficient to justify BA upgrading to a 744.
Cricket From India, joined Aug 2005, 2936 posts, RR: 7 Reply 9, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 2256 times:
HYD gets the new airport running in the third week of March and BLR starts around April 2. The problem for HYD is that the current runway would leave 744 or a 346 quite restricted and might even be an issue for a heavy 343, VS' lack of a mid-size twin will hurt them here. At BLR, until BIAL starts, I doubt there is terminal space in the evening.. you guys know what i mean.
BLR should see massive capacity increases in the weeks following the new airport opening. Even though the India-Germany ASA has to be renegotiated, in case Germany gets more services into India, LH has pretty much said that their next major service will be MUC-BLR.
ANstar From Netherlands, joined Nov 2003, 4848 posts, RR: 6 Reply 10, posted (5 years 9 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 2217 times:
Quoting Behramjee (Reply 4): Yes the BLR-LHR-BLR route is indeed high yielding for BA...otherwise they wouldnt upgrade the route from B 772ER to B 744. They did specifically to cater for the surge in demand for their F & J class cabin class seats.
Don't BA's 777's have similar F/J capacity to the 744's?
I would see a 744 on the route as an increase in Y capacity, rather than premium capacity
Nimish From India, joined Feb 2005, 3078 posts, RR: 9 Reply 12, posted (5 years 9 months 23 hours ago) and read 2071 times:
Quoting Readytotaxi (Reply 11): If the route is very profitable why has BMI suspended flying, can you say pls?
BMI canceled LHR-BOM, while this thread was talking about the profitability of the LHR-BLR sector. The reason for BLR to be quite profitable for BA (while BOM was not for BD) is that BA has the monopoly on the LHR-BLR sector (daily 772), while LHR-BOM has AI, 9W, BA & VS all resulting in about 8 non-stops daily.
Cricket From India, joined Aug 2005, 2936 posts, RR: 7 Reply 16, posted (5 years 9 months 21 hours ago) and read 1952 times:
Quoting Readytotaxi (Reply 11): If the route is very profitable why has BMI suspended flying, can you say pls?
BD didn't offer a daily flight, had issues with aircraft, didn't offer the US connectivity of either BA or VS and crucially BD was not able to attract premium passengers onto its service! BA Club World and even VS Upper Class has a lot of addicts here in India. BD could not even get people to switch over from AI. So basically in a five airline market, while four airlines ran decent PLF, BD just couldn't!
First Class: 33 seats (+66%)
Club World 178 seats (+64%)
World Traveller Plus: 2 seats
World Traveller: 236 seats
So a big increase in First and Club
Wow - so that's a significant increase in the Premium capacity to BLR! Certainly validates Behramjee's initial statement that BA is having a field day on their BLR service.
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