Air India Closes in on Birmingham Launch

Air India is set to begin flights between New Delhi and Birmingham within the next couple of months, a source at the Indian national carrier has revealed to The HUB. Following the arrival of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners the carrier has been analysing a number of markets for network growth over the past year and now the aircraft has returned to service following its short-term grounding, the airline source says the carrier is now prepared to push ahead with its expansion and Birmingham will be one of three or four new long-haul destinations to be introduced by the end of 2014.

It is understood that Air India has already formulated the schedule for the new service which is planned to be operated on a four times weekly basis by one of its expanding fleet of 787s, although reservations are not yet open and the flight is not currently displayed in the GDS. The outbound flight, ‘AI150’, is tentatively planned to leave New Delhi at 14:15, arriving at Birmingham at 19:00. The return service, ‘AI151’, is due to depart the Midlands’ city at 21:30, arriving back in the Indian capital at 10:20 the following day.

Air India is currently the only operator of the 787 in the Indian sub-continent having taken delivery of its first aircraft in September 2012. It now has six aircraft in service, with 21 more on order. According to the airline source final discussions are now taking place with suppliers and agents ahead of the formal launch of the route at some point in the next four weeks, with August 1, 2013 tentatively set as the launch date.

It was at Routes Asia earlier this year that it became clear that Air India was on the expansion path. Speaking at the event in Mumbai, India in March 2013, Deepak Brara, Commercial Director, Air India confirmed that the carrier was confident that upon the type’s return to service it would be in a position to announce new markets. “We are looking to add new flights to a number of new markets in the coming years. These include destinations in Australia, Italy, the US and a second stop in the UK,” he revealed.

“We have a huge home market so we have the scope to develop without having to worry about serving transfer traffic. As a result we will not really focus on sixth freedom markets in the coming years but simply serving strong O&D markets,” he added.

With existing flights to London Heathrow, the new UK market for Air India was thought to be a direct competition between Birmingham and Manchester but with a growth strategy based on origin and destination markets and the continued development of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport as it primary international hub, Birmingham appears to have secured the route.

According to census information, approximately 65,000 people of Indian origin live within Birmingham and its immediate suburbs. When you also include the notable levels of Indians across the Midlands and most notably in the cities of Coventry and Leicester you can understand why Birmingham would appeal to the Indian carrier. The census data suggests an Indian population of around 185,000 across the West Midlands County and 218,000 across the wider West Midlands region. These figures show that outside of London, the West Midlands has more Indians living within it than any other region in England.

"We have had confirmation from Air India that they plan to start flights between Birmingham and New Delhi in August,” confirmed an airport spokesperson. “It is likely that tickets will go on sale in July but until then we can't give any further information. We hope to be able to make an announcement in the very near future.”

If the new service comes to fruition, this will mark the return of Air India to the Birmingham market. The carrier first launched flights to the city in May 2005, but suspended its Amritsar – Birmingham – Toronto service in October 2008 as it focused its centralised its UK flight operations at London Heathrow, driven by the release of lucrative slots following the introduction of 777-200LR equipment into the fleet and which due to its flight envelope, removed the need for the carrier’s onward connections to the US from the UK capital.
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Photo: Ton Jochems - FRA