BRITISH Airways (BA) continues to spread its wings across Asia, reporting “business as usual” even as its 17-year alliance with Qantas (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 6, 2012) draws to a close on March 31.
The end of the alliance led to uncertainty regarding BA’s services to Sydney, but concerns were put to rest when BA announced it was deploying its newest aircraft, Boeing 777-300ER, on its London-Singapore-Sydney route starting March 30, 2013 (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 31, 2012).
Robert Williams, newly appointed regional general manager for BA South-east Asia, said: “The message we want to put across is that things are not changing and we are still flying the way we were before.”
“Both airlines are still part of the Oneworld alliance, and will continue to have a level of relationship with one another.”
He added that Asia was one of the airline’s focus areas due to the raft of opportunities available. Six-times-weekly flights to South Korea kicked off last December, while thrice-weekly flights to Colombo and Chengdu will start on April 14 and September 22 respectively.
Chengdu is BA’s third destination in China after Beijing and Shanghai, allowing it to become the only UK carrier to offer a direct service between London’s Heathrow Airport and Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
