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Virgin får 10 ukentlige UK-India
LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Britain's aviation regulator said on Friday it has granted British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways the rights to operate 10 new weekly return flights between Britain and India, following a hearing last month.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also said in a statement British Airways Plc was granted seven more weekly UK-India flights and smaller rival bmi four services.
The decision was bad news for BA which had applied for all 21 of the additional UK-India weekly return flights on offer following a new air services agreement between the two nations' governments.
It was a partial victory for Virgin which won 7 new flights on the London to Delhi route, but said it would appeal against the decision to only grant it 3 weekly flights on the Bombay route where it hoped to compete aggressively with BA.
Virgin, which is 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd, was also disappointed it did not win any services to Bangalore.
BA, which currently operates 21 direct weekly services between India and Britain, was granted four on the Chennai route and three to Bangalore. Bmi's four services are to Bombay.
The routes are invaluable for airlines seeking new sources of revenue as there are currently limited direct services between Britain and India despite high demand.
India and Britain agreed this year to allow an extra 21 flights for each country's designated airlines between Bombay, Delhi and other destinations. More are expected to be opened up following further negotiations later this year.
Branson and BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington testified before the CAA at a rare scarce capacity hearing in London last month.
REUTERS
LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Britain's aviation regulator said on Friday it has granted British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways the rights to operate 10 new weekly return flights between Britain and India, following a hearing last month.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also said in a statement British Airways Plc was granted seven more weekly UK-India flights and smaller rival bmi four services.
The decision was bad news for BA which had applied for all 21 of the additional UK-India weekly return flights on offer following a new air services agreement between the two nations' governments.
It was a partial victory for Virgin which won 7 new flights on the London to Delhi route, but said it would appeal against the decision to only grant it 3 weekly flights on the Bombay route where it hoped to compete aggressively with BA.
Virgin, which is 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd, was also disappointed it did not win any services to Bangalore.
BA, which currently operates 21 direct weekly services between India and Britain, was granted four on the Chennai route and three to Bangalore. Bmi's four services are to Bombay.
The routes are invaluable for airlines seeking new sources of revenue as there are currently limited direct services between Britain and India despite high demand.
India and Britain agreed this year to allow an extra 21 flights for each country's designated airlines between Bombay, Delhi and other destinations. More are expected to be opened up following further negotiations later this year.
Branson and BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington testified before the CAA at a rare scarce capacity hearing in London last month.
REUTERS
