British Airways Celebrates 80 Year Indian Anniversary With All-Cabin Offers

British Airways, as part of its celebrations to mark 80 years of flights between the UK and India, is offering special celebration deals for customers across India. The all-cabin deals will be available from for sale for UK from 11 January until 31 January 2010. For Europe and the US the offer closes on 28 February 2010.

Judy Jarvis, British Airways’ regional commercial manager, South Asia said, “British Airways has been serving the Indian customer for 80 years and is among the oldest international operators in the country. This is a great milestone for us and we want to thank our customers for their support and loyalty over the years. It is our constant endeavour to provide our customers the best service in the skies and in keeping with this spirit we’re planning a series of 80 year anniversary offers throughout the year.”

The maiden service from London to Delhi took off in December 1929. It took nearly seven days to complete the journey, after touching down in as many as 20 cities, and cost £130 at the time for a one way ticket. Today, British Airways operates 45 flights per week between India and the UK, direct to five main cities in as little as 10 hours and costs about £400.

The very first flight took place on a DH66 Hercules aircraft that had a full passenger capacity. It left London Croydon Airport on 23 December 1929 and landed in Delhi on 30 December 1929. At the time, the journey involved transit through more than 20 cities by rail, boat and sea plane before eventually landing in Delhi.

The 80 year milestone of travel between the UK and India takes place at the same time that British Airways celebrated its 90th year anniversary as an airline. Since its inception, the airline has grown and invested in air travel on its India route and is a preferred carrier for most passengers travelling to or from the UK and beyond.

Source: Indiaprwire