bmi has discontinued its daily Heathrow-Mumbai service indefinitely, blaming a long-term technical problem on the A330 aircraft that it uses on the route. The bmi A330 has been out of action for four weeks with a landing gear problem and the airline said work would only begin on its repair on October 30. No firm date for its return into service has been set.
Nigel Turner, bmi chief executive officer, said: “It is with great sadness and of personal disappointment to me that we have been forced to make this very difficult decision. We have tried without success to locate a suitable replacement unit, but the uncertainty of the length of time we will be without the aircraft has also not helped the situation.
“This uncertainty is also impacting upon our ability to confidently sell seats from Heathrow to Mumbai. The marketplace is intensely competitive and we have serious concerns about a prolonged period of over three month’s absence. A sustained absence will place us at a considerable disadvantage against the competition that we face on services to Mumbai when we are able to recommence operations.”
Traffic on the Heathrow-Mumbai has been growing dramatically. Last year, 725,000 passengers flew on the route, up from 448,000 the year before, according to figures from the Civil Aviation Authority. The impressive growth in traffic has in part been spurred on by a bilateral air agreement signed between India and the UK in 2005 which allowed more flights between the two cities. British Airways and Air India both have two flights a day between the cities while Virgin Atlantic and Jet Airways both fly once a day.
The intense competition has led to a price war on the route. Before the new services were introduced, a business class return cost £1,700 and an economy return £485. Flights are now regularly available for £1,300 and £300 respectively.
My readings are that it is more of a competition issue then aircraft. I am sure BMI will not return back as profitability has been dipping on the Bombay-London route.....
My readings are that it is more of a competition issue then aircraft. I am sure BMI will not return back as profitability has been dipping on the Bombay-London route.....
Srinivas Rao
U think they dropped out because of the price wars..........
bmi flies out of India, Lufthansa trims flight BYAS ANAND
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NEW DELHI: The dropping yields and cut-throat competition in the Indian skies seems to be finally taking its toll. Even as passenger rush to India continues to cruise higher, the low returns on the sector is forcing international airlines to rethink — and even withdraw — some flights from India.
While Britain’s low-cost airline bmi has pulled out its daily flight to Mumbai, marking its exit from India, Lufthansa has decided to curtail one flight from Hyderabad. These come on the tails of similar decisions by JetStar Asia and Myanmar Airlines, which withdrew services from Kolkata and Delhi respectively.
Though the airlines blamed these on technical reasons and non-availability of aircraft, industry insiders said the cut-throat competition — which had led to a drastic slash in ticket prices and a resultant dip in yields — is to blame. “The fact remains that a lot of airlines today operating into India are not making money because of the high competition. This is just the beginning of a consolidation on some routes that had seen excess capacity,” said Ankur Bhatia, MD of Amadeus India.
But the pull-outs are not a cause for concern, said another industry analyst.
“A few withdrawals don’t mean that India has turned attractive as a destination,” said the analyst.
Lufthansa, for one, has decided to deploy its aircraft on the Germany-Kolkata route, while bmi is said to be utilising the aircraft to mount flights to the Middle East.
bmi — which was instrumental in bringing down India-London fares to Rs 16,000 levels — said the Mumbai service has been suspended indefinitely due to a “long-term” technical problem with one of the three Airbus A-330 aircraft. Incidentally, the launch of the Mumbai route was bmi’s first-ever long-haul service from Heathrow. The technical problem was a cracked wing main landing gear.
The airline’s CEO Nigel Turner indicated the uncertainty about the aircraft availability was impacting the airlines ability to confidently sell seats to Mumbai.