CHENNAI: British Airways sees "India as a dynamic and vital travel market" and the European carrier is planning to tap the growing number of premium air travellers with high disposable income, especially from the Information Technology (IT) sector.

Paul Coby, Chief Information Officer of the BA Leadership Team, responsible for IT-enabled business change, told The Hindu that the main driver for the growth in the Indian economy was the boom witnessed in the IT and IT-enabled services sector.

Mr. Coby, who inaugurated a travel and hospitality industry lab set up by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on the IT corridor at Karapakkam, said the European carrier was keen to tap the growing premium air traffic from India to the U.K. and beyond.

The British Airways currently operates 43 flights per week, with a double daily service from London Heathrow to Mumbai and Delhi, a daily service to Bangalore, thrice a week to Kolkata and five times a week to Chennai.

Traveller-friendly

Noting that the BA had a long-standing and enduring relationship with the TCS in India, Mr. Coby said all-out efforts were on to make the airlines domain traveller-friendly and more interactive.

While the BA sees the IT boom as the key means to stimulate the air travel industry, Mr. Coby had a word of praise for the effort made by the TCS for making this novel concept of setting up this hi-tech laboratory.

Referring to the current boom in the civil aviation sector in India and the entry of several low-cost carriers, Mr. Coby admitted that these no-frills airlines had compelled airlines like the BA and Air India to adopt new marketing dynamics.

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