BRITISHAirways’ sales show no significant signs of improvement, director of sales Dale Moss has admitted.
He said the last couple of weeks had seen domestic bookings rise slightly, but said worldwide sales are still sluggish.
“Sales are still a bit flat,” said Moss.
Bookings for BAhave been static for the past year. The airline has blamed increased competition from other airlines and the fact that business travellers are downgrading to economy class.
Moss said BA could improve sales through Internet investment and a £5m marketing campaign.
BA is to offer training sessions with agents so they can directly access BA’s booking system through the Internet. The airline is upgrading its on-line booking system to make the process quicker and less likely to suffer from overload.
In another move, head of UK and Ireland sales Tiffany Hall is spearheading a drive to improve BA’s relationship with smaller agents which has deteriorated since BA dropped the basic rate of commission in January 1998.
Hall said:”We still have difficulties with the small agents, but want to work with them.”
She said the current commission structure is meeting BA’s requirements, but said rates were not set in stone and could be changed.
Other areas which BA will highlight include the fact that 50% of aircraft will have upgraded economy cabins by the autumn; Club World, Club Europe, First and Concorde will have improved service from the end of 1999; and long-haul aircraft will have seats for toddlers.
n Meanwhile, BA is understood to have had informal talks with Swissair joining Oneworld.