A wait and watch strategy, says Keith Williams, Chairman, British Airways

British Airways, which is celebrating 90 years of operations in India, is happy with the current scale of operations. On his first trip to India, British Airways executive chairman Keith Williams met Mihir Mishra and outlined that expansion would depend on the growth opportunities the new government creates here. Edited Excerpts:


Are you seeing revival in aviation and tourism?

From a British Airways perspective, the US economy is showing a good degree of growth, which is good for us, since we are big in the US. Asia is growing quite well. Europe is the slowest of the economies and the UK, among them, is growing slowly and steadily. In terms of India, any assistance that the government gave to boost tourism and aviation would be good.

How are visa restrictions impacting tourist arrivals in the UK?

We have two issues in terms of visa for the UK one is the price of visa for a particular section of travellers and the other is a separate visa for UK. In India, a recent plan to allow electronic visa for people travelling to the country is a good step.

What kind of expansion plans do you see?

We are happy with the current five slots. India is more of a point to point market than transfer passengers (passengers flying beyond London). Any expansion plans would depend on the development Indian sees with the opportunities the new government provides. India has tremendous opportunity but it is still in phases of development. We are happy with the slots currently. If the market grows, we would grow accordingly.

Your strategy for India would be wait & watch?

Yes. Wait and watch. Let’s see how India develops and, hopefully, participate as and when it is developing.

Once it develops, you will look at cooperation, not buying stake, as there are not many options?

Yes. As you look historically, we have not looked at investing directly. The airlines tend to look at cooperation first and then look at buying stake or something. India has opened up its markets. So, Middle Eastern carriers look at buying into Indian carriers but that is a separate model they follow.