New flights to India

UK-India connections have been strengthened with the news that British Airways will be operating seven new flights between the countries.

The airline will operate four extra services to Chennai and a new three-times-a-week service to Bangalore starting next summer.

bmi and Virgin have also been awarded additional capacity.

bmi will begin four flights per week to Mumbai from March 2005, while Virgin will fly to Dehli as well as Mumbai.

Currently, BA operates daily flights to Delhi and Mumbai, three services a week to Kolkata and two flights per week to Chennai.

UK air regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, awarded BA an additional seven frequencies, but it is only a third of the 21 requested by the airline.

BA chief executive Rod Eddington said: "While we look forward to increasing flights to Chennai and starting new services to Bangalore we would like to operate more flights to India.

"The CAA's remit was to award the frequencies to the airline that could bring maximum benefits to consumers and the UK economy. We believe that we were best placed to do that."

BA said it may well continue to argue the case for more capacity to India.

Sir Richard Branson was also unhappy with the outcome. He said: "This simply isn't enough - BA utterly dominates, carrying 75% of First and Business class passengers flying directly between the UK and India, and it needs competition on Mumbai on a daily basis from a world-class long haul airline with world-class products and services."