Strategy

BA says 'Namaste' to India

British Airways has recently launched an aggressive media and promotion campaign foreseeing enormous business potential from its India operations. Express TravelWorld delves into the reasons behind the new branding strategy.

Historians might look at it as a classic model of reverse colonialism. British Airways, UK's largest international scheduled airline, is now eager to woo the Indian market. It has been on an inv-esting spree and has launched a slew of media campaigns - both television and print - targeting the Indian market.

As of now, it has spent £ 2 million for its television and print campaigns with the line 'For India, The World Is Waiting' created by M&C Saatchi. British Airways has also incorporated a city-centric print campaign specifically aimed at the burgeoning Bangalore market. This advertisement with the tagline, 'BA…Galore', has been created by M&C Saatchi with inputs from British Airways India.

These television and video commercials have been filmed by director Nikhil Advani, recognised for his debut Hindi film 'Kal Ho Na Ho'. Apart from the broadcast media, BA has also adopted the print medium, including leading mainline and travel trade-specific newspapers and magazines.

Robert James Baird, area general manager (Africa, Mid-dle East, Central & South Asia) of British Airways, said that the airline has dedicated this year to India. "Almost 45-50 per cent of BA passengers flew out of India to the US and other shores from London, making it an important transit point. And for the first time in the history of British Airways, we have doubled our flights from any country in a year," he added.

Citing figures, Baird said that the airline was servicing the Indian market with 19 flights per week at the start of this year. This has been increased to 35 at present and is expected to reach 42 flights per week by the summer of 2006.

The television advertisement has highlighted the Indian salutation gesture 'Namaste' playing on the Indian culture and tradition. Baird said, "Both these things are embedded in the minds and hearts of most Indians the world over. 'Namaste', the greeting, is synonymous with the warmth, affection and solidarity of Indians and what better way to express ourselves than in a greeting that is so welcoming."

British Airways has been operating in India for the last 76 years and has now been flying to four Indian cities including daily to New Delhi, double daily to Mumbai, three times per week to Kolkata and six flights a week to Chennai. Following the success of bilateral talks between UK and India, it started direct flights between Bangalore and London Heathrow from Oct 31, 2005. British Airways currently has five flights a week from Bangalore, which is now the fifth Indian city to have direct connectivity to London Heathrow. The airline claims that the Bangalore operation has led to creation of 60 new jobs in the city.

Speaking on the Bangalore campaign, Baird elucidated, "India was BA's biggest long-haul market outside the US. Almost 20 per cent of the passengers who earlier flew BA from Mumbai to London were from Bangalore, and about three to four per cent from Chennai. Hence, we decided to add the garden city to our route and we have five flights a week out of the city. Adding to our customer's convenience, we have also launched the online boarding pass facility in Bangalore."

As of now, approximately 79 airports across the globe accept BA online boarding passes and Bangalore is the first Indian city to offer this. "Getting an online boarding pass in the convenience of one's home, office or hotel is a unique facility - something that is being offered in India for the first time. We will look into extending this service to other cities as well," informed Baird.

BA has also recently signed an MoU with Air Sahara and the two are working out the modalities for providing feeds to each other, lounge sharing, frequent flyer miles and other facilities.