The air operator British Airways has doubled the number of passengers transported to and from Romania over the first ten months of the 2006 - 2007 fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, while the occupancy rate has increased by 11% to 86% over the same period.
This occupancy rate exceeded the one registered by British Airways internationally, approximately 76.4%, according to Association of European Airlines. "It is a very good occupancy rate, considering we doubled our transportation capacity by introducing a second daily flight to London," said Corina Enciu, country commercial manager for Romania and Moldova.
The company sold some 30,000 tickets and derived a turnover worth 6 million euros on the domestic market in the previous fiscal year.
British Airways was the first company to introduce electronic tickets, which now account for 98% of the total tickets sold, an increase of 10% compared with last year.
At the same time the online ticket reservations have increased to approximately 16%, against less than 5% registered a year ago. "Increasingly more clients choose this alternative. We believe sales on the Internet will climb to 20% of the total sales by the end of the year," said Enciu.
The company signed an agreement with the Hungarian operator Malev this year for Timisoara - London and Targu-Mures - London flights, with a stopover in Budapest.
"Although it was not necessarily part of our target, we believed this agreement was an opportunity for us to introduce flights to London from other cities, so it is a good way to explore the market. We may announce new flights this autumn," said Enciu.
At present, British Airways is operating 14 flights to London per week, not taking into account those operated in partnership with Malev.
"We noticed the traffic to London has increased considerably and we think it will continue to grow over the next period. We want to promote London as a destination for tourists because 70% of our passengers who travel to London at the moment are businessmen," said Enciu.
The company wants to promote other destinations that will use the London-based Heathrow airport as their hub.
The Bucharest-London flight currently accounts for 70% of the company's revenues, while the remaining 30% come from subsidiary flights.
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