<<Print>>

British Airways has begun initiating moves to take advantage of Virgin Atlantic�s exit from the country. British Airways will become the only airline in the country to ply the Accra � Heathrow route directly when Virgin Atlantic halts operations in the country in September. Describing Virgin�s exit as shocking country commercial manager for British Airways James Wooldridge told Citi Business News, it will increase its flights schedules and bring in more aircrafts among others to fill the vacuum that will be created when virgin leaves. �We are really shocked and surprised about Virgin�s exit from the market. We understand there are a lot of Ghanaians that are going to be quite anxious about the fact that there is only one carrier flying directly to London. So what we are looking to do internally is add some additional capacity into the market here in Ghana.� Wooldridge added that �it could be a combination of additional frequencies from Ghana to London or it could mean a bigger airplane on the schedule we currently fly so these are two options we are looking at, it�s still in the planning stages.� Industry players fear British Airways monopoly of the route will lead to hikes in fares for that route among others. But James Wooldridge says the airline will remain competitive despite Virgin�s exit saying, �I can guess there is a nervousness that we may increase our prices what I would say is we have a period where we review our prices. I think we will remain competitive with our prices.�