JEDDAH, 26 March — British Airways, which effected job cuts and introduced cost-cutting measures worldwide in a bid to overcome the impact of Sept. 11, is suspending its operations to and from Dammam effective from the summer timetable, which comes into force next week. The airline, which is temporarily doing away with its weekly four services to Dammam, continues with its weekly four frequencies each from Riyadh and Dammam. BA’s Eastern Province passengers may now have to travel from Riyadh or Bahrain.
“Rebuilding passenger confidence was our prime objective during the post-Sept. 11 period like some other European and American airlines. The past six months have been the most difficult period that the airline faced for a long time. It wasn’t so difficult even during the Gulf war. Problems were compounded by the fact that many Saudis decided not to travel to the West after Sept. 11. The task became more difficult for us and we had to make our product and services more attractive to the Saudi traveler. So we took the Middle East initiative from January until March 20 offering 50 percent discount to Europe and 30 percent to the US, and it worked wonderfully well. We’re pleased with the result. Most people went to the UK and Europe and some of them even to the US. They were essentially business travelers. Passenger confidence thus improved,” Chris M. Phipps, BA Country Commercial Manager for Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with Arab News. “That was also the period in which we transported some 3,000 Haj pilgrims. We operated 18 special Haj flights to and from Jeddah,” he said, adding that the discount offer and the Haj traffic together boosted the airline’s load factor during the period.
“Overall, the airline has dealt with the most difficult post-Sept. 11 phase very well, despite the cost-cutting measures announced in October-November. BA’s cost-cutting measures in the Kingdom have resulted in a 10 percent saving. There were very few cancellations during the most difficult period the airline has faced in its history. After all, we had to do something to improve profitability and value for our shareholders. BA has a track record of responding to a crisis. As an airline we took the right decisions at the right time,” said Phipps who is with BA since 1985.
“Business travel to the West has already returned and is building up over the past few months. The question is of vacation or leisure travel, which is expected to pick up during the upcoming holiday season,” said Phipps, who assumed charge nine months ago.
