Ta-ta

Nov. 7: British Airways will suspend its Calcutta-London flight from March 28 next year.

“The route is not making a profitable contribution to our business and we are unable to sustain it,” said Amanda Amos, the British Airways (BA) area commercial manager, South Asia.

Calcutta, which took a blow when the Tatas decided to move their Nano plant from Singur last month, is the only station in the country the airline is pulling out from.

Passengers booked to travel with BA after March 28 will be contacted by the airline.

After Air India suspended its non-stop flights to Heathrow from the city in October, BA was the only airline offering a direct connection.

If Air India does not resume the service by April and BA sticks to its decision, passengers from eastern India will have to take flights which have stopovers at other airports.

Mohini Bhavnani, 71, a frequent flier, said: “At my age, it is pretty difficult to stop over at another airport.”BA, which announced a drop in half-year profits to £52 million from £616 million last year, blamed “the recent rise in fuel surcharge and the global recession” for the pullout.

But a spokesperson in Mumbai said: “BA will start direct flights between Hyderabad and London on December 7.”

“Calcutta is the only sector from where we are pulling out,” the spokesperson confirmed. BA, flying to the city since the 1930s, had started its non-stop service in 2001. It has three flights a week.

Airline sources said that after Indian economic reforms, Calcutta was expected to become a hub for metal-based industries. It was also expected to benefit from the push for closer economic ties with Southeast Asia and China. “Unfortunately, Calcutta has not yet come of age as a global business destination,” an Air India official said.

Big-ticket investments in Bengal have been few. The Nano plant had raised hopes of a revival of industrialisation, which were snuffed out by its closure. “The agitation that forced the Tatas to leave sent a wrong message. It’s natural that the city’s prospects and business projections, including air traffic, will be affected,” an industry observer said.

Sandipan Chakravorty, eastern region chairman of CII, said: “It (the decision to suspend BA flights) is very unfortunate. This will have negative impact on business. For trade and commerce, time is the essence…. I feel sad to hear this.”

In 2007, there was 20 per cent growth in international passengers from Calcutta. “In 2008, the growth was 5 per cent and we fear it will be negative growth in the first quarter of 2009,” an aviation official said.

Yesterday, the BA 272-seater Boeing 777 arrived with 213 passengers and left with 249, airport officials said. On November 4, it came with 154 passengers and left with 243. Sources said an airline needed a constant load factor of 75 to 80 per cent through the year.

Lufthansa, too, has reduced the frequency of its Calcutta-Frankfurt services.

“India remains an incredibly important market for BA and we continue with our growth plans on routes that we believe will be profitable,” Amos said, adding Calcuttans could join BA services via other Indian gateways.

Travel agents said BA had been downscaling its operations here for some time and till recently, was working out of a small office. Now even that has been closed and passengers are being advised to make transactions through credit card or HSBC Bank.

Airline officials said the 17 employees here would be given time to “either look for jobs or get themselves repositioned within BA”.