British Airways’ Middle East commercial manager believes Dubai could support an all-business service.

Paul Starrs said he had been lobbying for an all-business service to the booming Gulf state for some time.

BA is carrying full loads in its premium cabins on its thrice-daily Dubai service and is set to up frequency to four times daily in its winter schedules.
Starrs told ttgbusiness: “I think the market could support an all-business service from the UK to Dubai and I’ve been pushing that idea for some time.

“We have three planes daily and we’re putting on a fourth and the premium cabins are always full.”

BA would not be the first airline to operate an all-business route to the Gulf state: Lufthansa currently operates a daily all-business service from Frankfurt to Dubai.

At a panel debate during the Business Travel Show Dubai Starrs said he believed “it was likely” that BA could redeploy aircraft from the struggling North Atlantic routes to the Middle East.

“As it softens in one area, it strengthens in another – from the US to the Middle East for example,” he said. “A lot of airlines will be looking at their unprofitable routes. We pulled Tokyo frequency and are redeploying it on more profitable routes.”

Starrs is also keen to re-launch a route to Saudi Arabia which it pulled several years ago due to concerns about staff safety.

He said: “The kingdom is booming, I think it would make a lot of sense to launch a route from the UK.”

BMI recently announced it is doubling its flights from Heathrow to Riyadh from January 15 from three to six flights a week.