British Airways sees strong demand among local executives

BA will use its strong network to connect local businessmen not only to its home base in London, |but also to other parts of the |world, especially the US, Sriram Narayan, manager for Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, said last week.
BA is part of International Airlines Group (IAG), which also operates Iberia and bmi airlines. IAG is one of the world’s largest airline groups with 398 aircraft flying to 200 destinations and carrying more than 50 million passengers each year. It is the third largest group in Europe and the sixth largest in the world in terms of revenue.
BA operates only daily Bangkok-London flights. Narayan declined to reveal the cabin factor, but said it is doing “well’’. The firm claims to have advantages over rivals in pricing, onboard service and food quality, but most important is its non-stop flight, which makes it easier to connect to other parts of the world. And students can get discounted fares.
The legacy airline looks forward to the opening of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, which should stimulate regional traffic. BA is working with
 Bangkok Airways via code-sharing to help its London passengers connect to domestic and regional destinations.
BA will also look for an ‘‘opportunity’’ to launch its own direct flight from London to cities in this region if the right time comes.
Worldwide, BA operates 755 flights per day, with 152 destinations in 75 nations, and carries 32 million passengers per year. Asia is an important market and this month BA will launch a service to Seoul from London. Even though this region offers more opportunity, it has kept an equal balance for all markets to minimise its business risk at a time of economic uncertainty worldwide.
The firm is strengthening its British brand globally, including Thailand, under its motto, “To Fly. To Serve”, which is advertised in the media. The airline has also committed to spending over Bt250 million on customer products and services over the next five years.