British Airways expects India's ‘big middle class’ segment to fuel travel demand amid expansion plans

London-based airline operator British Airways Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sean Doyle expects India's ‘big and emerging’ middle class to fuel the nation's travel demand in the next 10 years amid the company's expansion plans with help from the India-UK free trade agreement.

“I think that the growth is going to be incredibly exciting, and something that you won't see. It's a once-in-a-generation growth opportunity here, what's happening in India,” the CEO told the news agency PTI. 

In an interview with the news agency, the CEO, Sean Doyle, said that the company plans to further expand its air routes, flight frequencies, and cargo operations, leveraging the India-UK free trade agreement.

According to the agency report, the airline currently operates 56 flights from five Indian cities every week. These flights include three weekly flights from Mumbai, two daily flights from Delhi, and one daily flight from Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Doyle also highlighted that India serves as a “very important” market for British Airways, as the airline plans to reintroduce first-class seats in the Boeing 787-9 aircraft flying between Mumbai and the London Heathrow route later this year.

“I think we want to be part of the growth of aviation in India. We have been part of it for 100 years... about 2,500 people work for British Airways in India... outside of the United States, our biggest single market is India,” Doyle told the news agency. 

Cargo Rise, Tariff Uncertainties

British Airways CEO Sean Doyle expects more cargo opportunities between India and the United Kingdom (UK) due to the two nations' Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

“I expect more cargo being exported from India under the FTA. And I would expect as well that it would be an increase in certain niche exports coming into India as well. Not necessarily out of the UK but also out of the surrounding kind of markets that we serve,” the airline CEO told the news agency.

As the world still remains uncertain about the US President Donald Trump's imposed tariffs, Doyle said that everyone is still watching what is happening and the impact of these import duties. President Trump's decision to impose ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on all good imported from other world nations fueled a international tariff war which is raging and causing concerns of uncertainty to date. 

Indian Aviation Demand

Data collected from India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), shows that the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines during the January to April 2025 period witnessed a 9.87 per cent rise at 575.13 lakh or over 5.75 crore, compared year-on-year (YoY) with 523.46 lakh or more than 5.23 crore in the same period a year ago.

The passenger air traffic also witnessed an 8.45 per cent growth on a month-on-month (MoM) comparison from March 2025 to April 2025.

“Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-April 2025 were 575.13 lakhs as against 523.46 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 9.87% and monthly growth of 8.45%,” said DGCA in its monthly traffic data release.

The data also showed that the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for April 2025 was at 0.64 per cent, with Akasa Air, Air India Group, and IndiGo at the lowest level.