Passengers travelling through all four of the current operational terminals at Heathrow will be able to access complimentary WiFi provided by the airport operator from Saturday 1 June 2014.
Access to the complimentary service is limited to 45 minutes a day. However, members of the Heathrow Rewards loyalty programme, formerly known as BAA Worldpoints, will be able to access the service for 90 minutes a day.
Registration for Heathrow Rewards is free and is clearly worth it just for the free WiFi.
British Airways has announced it is to upgrade its London Heathrow – Rio de Janeiro route from a three class Boeing 777-200 aircraft to a four class Boeing 777-300 aircraft from Sunday 27 October 2013.
Continue reading “BA upgrades Rio de Janeiro, adding First Class & Boeing 777-300”
British Airways has confirmed further changes to its London Gatwick short-haul timetable for the Winter 2013 season, which starts on 27 October 2013.
All of these changes involve decreases in flights for the winter season.
Flights to Amsterdam decrease by 4 flights a week.
Flights to Barcelona decrease from three times a day to twice daily.
Flights to Bordeaux decrease from twice daily to ten weekly, with the second daily flights not operating on Monday – Thursday.
Flights to Dubrovnik decrease from 3 to 2 a week, with the flight on Friday being cancelled.
Flights to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Jersey each decrease by 2 week, still leaving a good number of flights a week from the airport.
Flights to Genoa change from daily to five weekly, with no flights on Wednesday and Sunday.
There’s more detail on BA’s Gatwick routes on ba.com
International Airlines Group is clearly not satisfied with owning over 90% of Vueling.
Although this gives IAG full control of Vueling for all practical and accounting purposes, the airline group is clearly intent on having 100% ownership of Vueling. On Friday, IAG made a further offer for the remaining 9% of Vueling’s shares listed on the stock exchange in Spain.
As stated before, IAG has been coy about its intentions regarding Vueling, save for stating it will remain a separate subsidiary in the IAG group. However, IAG is clearly very keen on pursuing full ownership and control of the airline.
easyJet is to expand further at London Gatwick airport next year as Flybe has today announced it is to sell to easyJet its portfolio of 25 take off and landing slots at the airport for £20m.
Continue reading “easyJet to expand at Gatwick as Flybe sells off slots”
The BBC has announced that it is to go behind the scenes at London Heathrow airport next month with “Airport Live”.
Over four consecutive nights from Monday 17 June 2013 to Thursday 20 June 2013, the BBC will be live from the control tower and airport terminals of London Heathrow.
This is not the first time the BBC has done such an exercise. Many readers will no doubt recall the long running fly on the wall documentary “Airport”.
Whilst “Airport” was very much focused on the work of a small number of individual staff members and passengers’ stories, it seems that “Airport Live” will lean more towards the mechanics and challenges of the daily airport operation. The BBC promises unprecedented access to air traffic control, airport terminals and airport hangars, to monitor the entire airport operation through a combination of pre-recorded segments and live footage (though I assume certain areas are bound to be off limits for security reasons).
It is understood that BA will be actively participating in the programme. This is noteworthy in itself as BA has, in the past, not been known for being willing to open itself up the media.
Virgin Atlantic has reported another year of heavy financial losses. The airline has today published its financial results for the year ended 28 February 2013.
Continue reading “Virgin Atlantic reports another year of heavy financial losses”
When London Heathrow Terminal 5 opened a little over five years ago (the opening was a day many will never forget!), much was made by BA of the introduction of its “Galleries” lounge concept. At Heathrow, this comprises the “flagship” Concorde Room for first class passengers and Concorde Room cardholders, a Galleries First lounge for BA Executive Club Gold cardholders, three Galleries Club lounges and a Galleries Arrivals lounge for arriving passengers. The lounges were designed by what was then known as Davies & Baron. The lounges feature bespoke Osborne & Little patterns, bold statements such as horse lamps as well as more subtle art and design statements.
The Sunday Times reports that Flybe is to sell its portfolio of slots at London Gatwick and easyJet may be a prospective purchaser.
The Sunday Times has interesting story (Sunday Times Paywall) which states that Flybe is in discussions with easyJet to sell its portfolio of slots at London Gatwick airport.
Continue reading “Sunday Times: Flybe may sell London Gatwick slots to easyJet”
Iberia’s new CEO, Luis Gallego, announced a new leadership team for Iberia on Friday 10 May 2013. The number of directors reporting to the Iberia CEO has been reduced to nine. Of the nine strong management team, four are external appointments and the remainder are internal promotions.
Continue reading “Iberia’s new CEO, Luis Gallego, overhauls Iberia’s management”