There has a huge expansion is traffic between London and India in the last year owing to two deals in succession that have opened up aviation links between the two countries. Until recently prices for direct flights had been kept high by the limited number of flights permitted by the Indian government. Demand had been diverted to Middle Eatsern hubs benefitting Emmirates at the expense of British and Indian carriers. There are now no less than five airlines operating direct services between London and Bombay.


British Airways doubles Indian flights
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bapress/public/en_gb

British Airways' flights between London Heathrow and India will almost double when the airline's winter schedule starts on Sunday October 30, 2005.

The liberalisation of the aviation market between the two countries has enabled British Airways to increase its number of weekly flights from 19 to 35.

With a population of more than one billion, and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the International Air Transport Association predicts that India's international air traffic will grow by an average of 8.4 per cent annually between 2004 and 2009.

The changes to Indian flights are as follows:

· Services to Mumbai will double with two flights each day.

· A new service to Bangalore will operate five times each week.

· Flights to Chennai will increase from two to six per week.

· There will continue to be a daily service to Delhi though this will increase to a double daily service next summer.

· Flights to Kolkata remain at three each week.

Robert Boyle, British Airways' director of planning, said: "The massive expansion in our India flights is something that we have wanted to do for a considerable time but were halted by restrictive bilateral agreements between the British and Indian governments. Now that these restrictions have been lifted we can build on our 75 years of experience of operating to the subcontinent."

To my knowledge these are all the direct weekly services from London and Paris to Indian cities that are either operating already or have a fixed start date to commence in the near future. Note that there are direct flights to India from several other UK cities. The number of weekly flights from London-Bombay now matches London-Tokyo:


Direct flights per week from London to India


India = 102

Mumbai (Bombay) = 42
- British Airways = 14
- Virgin Atlantic = 7
- BMI = 7
- Air India = 7
- Jet Airways = 7

Delhi = 41
- British Airways = 14
- Virgin Atlantic = 7
- Jet Airways = 7
- Air Sahara = 7
- Air India = 6

Kolkata (Calcutta) = 6
- British Airways = 3
- Air India = 3

Chennai (Madras) = 6
- British Airways = 6

Bangalore = 5
- British Airways = 5

Ahmedabad = 2
- Air India = 2



Direct flights per week from Paris to India


India = 31

Mumbai (Bombay) = 14
- Air France = 7
- Air India = 7

Delhi = 10
- Air France = 7
- Air India = 3

Chennai (Madras) = 7
- Delta Airlines = 7

^^ Even Air Sahara has got daily slots at Heathrow (http://203.199.70.135/airsahara/slot.jsp).

So the total weekly flights on Delhi-London sector is 41. Not bad, considering the fact that a few years ago, it was like only 14 or so.

^ Thank you. I have edited my figures. I knew Air Sahara had plans but I didn't know they had something concrete. Have flights commenced already? It does say "winter 2005" on the link....

^^ Not sure whether they started it already. Prolly by November or so.

Direct flights per week from London to the Far East

Here is data for the numbers of direct weekly scheduled flights from London to the Far East (ie one direction only) that I have gathered from Expedia and airline wesbites (not all airlines are covered by Expedia). It makes for a useful comparison with India. I may expand this data to include flights to other parts of South Asia and the Middle East as well - also the volume of Asia flights from European rivals such as Paris and Frankfurt. London has more flights to the Far East and also India than any other city in the western world. This data is correct for the week 9th January - 15th January inclusive:


China = 86

Hong Kong = 60
- Cathay Pacific = 28
- British Airways = 21
- Virgin Atlantic = 7
- Qantas = 4

Shanghai = 16
- Virgin Atlantic = 7
- British Airways = 5
- China Eastern = 4

Beijing = 10
- British Airways = 5
- Air China = 5


Japan = 49

Tokyo = 42
- British Airways = 14
- Japan Airlines (JAL) = 14
- Virgin Atlantic = 7
- ANA = 7

Osaka = 7
- Japan Airlines (JAL) = 7


South Korea = 10

Seoul = 10
- Korean Airlines = 7
- Asiana Airlines = 3


Singapore = 45

Singapore = 45
- Singapore Airlines = 21
- British Airways = 14
- Qantas = 10


Thailand = 34

Bangkok = 34
- Thai = 14
- British Airways = 7
- Qantas = 7
- EVA = 6


Malaysia = 25

Kuala Lumpur = 21
- Malaysia = 14
- Garuda = 7

Penang = 2
- Malaysia = 2

Langkawi = 2
- Malaysia = 2

Oasis, a new low-cost carrier based in Hong Kong, is planning to start flying to the UK next year.

^ Yeah I read that too but we still don't know how many flights per week.

Hong Kong is the largest Asian destination from London and Cathay Pacific the largest carrier on any one route! British Airways is obviously the largest London-Asia carrier overall but Virgin Atlantic puts in a pretty good showing. Incidentally in case anyone was wondering why Virgin advertises a route to Singapore, and why you see Virgin fares quoted when searching for direct flights to Singapore on Expedia, but Virgin does not appear on these stats to Singapore, note that these flights are actually operated by Singapore Airlines. It's merely a codeshare. Singapore airlines owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic. London based Swire Group owns 45.11% of Cathay Pacific.

Direct flights per week from Paris to the Far East

These figures are collated in the same way as the London figures above (ie direct flights in one direction only) and are correct for the week 9th January to 15th January inclusive:


China = 53

Hong Kong = 14
- Air France = 7
- Cathay Pacific = 7

Shanghai = 17
- Air France = 7
- China Eastern = 7
- Air China = 3

Beijing = 14
- Air France = 10
- Air China = 4

Guangzhou = 8
- Air France = 3
- China Southern = 3


Taiwan = 3

Taipei = 3
- EVA = 3


Japan = 43

Tokyo = 36
- Air France = 19
- Japan Airlines (JAL) = 10
- ANA = 7

Osaka = 7
- Air France = 7


South Korea = 11

Seoul = 11
- Air France = 6
- Korean Airlines = 5


Singapore = 14

Singapore = 14
- Air France = 7
- Singapore Airlines = 7


Thailand = 14

Bangkok = 14
- Air France = 7
- Thai = 7


Malaysia = 6

Kuala Lumpur = 6
- Malaysia = 6


Vietnam = 11

Saigon = 6
- Air France = 3
- Vietnam Airlines = 3

Hanoi = 5
- Air France = 2
- Vietnam Airlines = 3


Compared to London:

- Number of direct flight destinations in the Far East from London = 11

- Number of direct flight destinations in the Far East from Paris = 13

- Number of direct flights per week to the Far East from London = 249

- Number of direct flights per week to the Far East from Paris = 155

Nice. :)

Intresting(but I think obvious) fact: BA is the largest carrier out of India. Next comes Lufthansa and only then Air India. And not just from a few months, I think it has been like that for some years now.

any chance BA are gonna purchase some of the super jumbo jets the A380s??

^ Most rumours indicate that BA is more likely to choose the new Boeing 747 Advanced. However they haven't ruled out the A380. They wouldn't do so in any case for fear of compromising their negotiating position. I am surprised. I thought that BA would be the customer most likely to opt for the A380 to maximise traffic despite the chronic shortage of slots at Heathrow. Indeed the entire A380 concept had Heathrow in mind. Virgin Atlantic have ordered the A380 so we will have at least one British carrier flying the super jumbo. The A380's maiden commercial flight will probably be a Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to London. :)

abbreviate Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services for me again Monkey...

^ Oh I see - I spelt it with a U. :)

there's a good lad :happy:

So why are there less flights to Kalkota then even Chennai?

So why are there less flights to Kalkota then even Chennai?There aren't. Both cities have six flights per week.

Whoops, that's right. But why does such a large city like that have so few flights than New Delhi and Mumbai, which are pretty much the same size?

Whoops, that's right. But why does such a large city like that have so few flights than New Delhi and Mumbai, which are pretty much the same size?Calcutta has fallen behind as a business city. The state government of West Bengal has been communist for decades and has, until recently, been very hostile to business. That has changed in the last few years and West Bengal now has the fastest growing economy of any Indian state and the state government now actively lobbies for foreign investment. Calcutta has emereged as one of India's leading IT and high tech cities. However it still trails Bombay and Delhi as a business city by a good margin. Also the Bengali community in Britain is mainly from the Sylhet region in Bangladesh rather than Bengalis from the Indian side of the border.

British Airways connects London and B’lore (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1281003.cms)

What planes will be used? 747s or the 777s. For Mumbai and Delhi, they use the 747s.