Emil Delibashev, commercial manager for the Balkans and Hungary

British Airways (BA) is trying to convince small and medium sized enterprises on the Romanian market to fly with the company’s aircrafts, and the campaign is yielding results: 350 SMEs have already enrolled in the On Business program. Emil Delibashev, commercial manager for the Balkans and Hungary, tells BR what are the main destinations for BA passengers.

What are the top five destinations for British Airways’ Romanian passengers?

New York is definitely there, as is Miami, while Los Angeles is number three. Interestingly enough, Houston and Dallas are very popular here and nowhere else. Las Vegas is also very successful. People go there for big events, such as IT fairs and things of that sort. Probably 70 percent of passengers are individuals travelling there for leisure purposes. With long-haul flights, leisure is always the dominant reason for travelling. With London, for instance, it is an equal mix between business and leisure.

What kinds of companies have joined your On Business program?

We saw 35 percent more registrations for the On Business program in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, so we now have 350 members. They are companies in pharma, IT, some banks, mobile operators and some fuel companies. We set a target with this new campaign to attract 20 new companies to fly with us.

What are the main months for promotions for British Airways?

Usually, when you do BA promotions in my region, it is traditionally in the flop months when it can’t get any worse. That is February. Occasionally, November is a flop, but it varies from year to year. February is by far the most challenging month for us, which is when we usually do the drastic promotions. The only exception, in my region, is Bulgaria, because skiing there is so popular with British tourists who come in large numbers to four resorts, so Sofia does very well in February. But in Romania’s case, we usually struggle.