As the significant South Asian Community in the UK’s Midlands celebrated Diwali this week, the region’s largest air gateway, Birmingham Airport, was highlighting the value new direct air connectivity into India had brought to the area. The figures released this week from Air India and Birmingham Airport clearly illustrates the strong demand for direct flights to the Indian Subcontinent from the region.

After a long campaign to get direct flights, South Asian businesses and families in the Midlands are offering their full support for the new direct services to Delhi, which launched this summer, and are now calling for the further strengthening of aviation links between the two countries.

Air India launched the direct service from Birmingham Airport to Delhi on August 1, 2013 and since then 20,500 passengers have already flown on the service, with average loads approaching the 80 per cent figure. The route was always going to be a strong success as the number of passengers using indirect services between Birmingham and India for the period September 2012 to August 2013 was 129,741, illustrating the strong demand within the Airport’s catchment area

The introduction of the four times weekly service, operated using a 356-seat Boeing 787 Dreamliner, has helped boost the number of long-haul passengers using Birmingham Airport by 13.5 per cent in September this year, compared to the same month last year

According to the ONS, the West Midlands has the highest BME population outside London. The British-Indian population of the West Midlands forms 3.9 per cent at 218,000 (2011). Residents born in India represent the most numerous non-UK born group in the West Midlands with a population size of nearly 100,000.

The numbers are strong but the success of any route, especially one linking a region into an international hub, is about getting passengers to use the service, especially corporates. At the recent World Routes forum held in Las Vegas in early October, Delhi International Airport and Birmingham Airport signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalise a working relationship and commit to further developing links between the two cities. And, the UK airport is working with the local business community to push the value of direct air connectivity into India.

“The ability to fly direct from the Midlands to India is a game-changer for businesses like mine,” said Jason Wouhra, Director of East End Foods plc and Chairman of the Midlands IoD. “The reduction in time saves me money, allows me to work more effectively when I get there and crucially makes it easier for my suppliers and customers overseas. It shows that the Midlands is serious about building trade links with the Subcontinent.”

The value of direct international links from the regions removes a need for transfers or a long ground journey to an alternative airport. “Direct connections to India are important to people like me in the Midlands who travel back and forth a lot to visit friends and family,” said Tan Handa, owner of the Horseshoe Bar & Restaurant. “Indian families have been crying out for direct flights and I am glad it’s finally happened.”