London's airlines, airports and routes.
We’ve always had something of a soft spot for the Boeing 747. It’s an aircraft that, we think, is second only to Concorde in terms of presence on the tarmac.
Continue reading “BBC2 tells the story of “Jumbo: The Plane That Changed The World””
British Airways has today confirmed that Singapore will be the fifth destination to be served by the airline’s Airbus A380 fleet of aircraft.
The airline is currently operating the A380 on selected flights to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. Washington will be added to the A380 network from September of this year.
The Airbus A380 will replace a Boeing 747 on three flights a week between London Heathrow and Singapore from Thursday 28 October 2014.
BA will continue to serve Singapore twice daily, with the second Boeing 777-300 continuing on to Sydney from Singapore.
It’s worth noting that BA has departed from its strategy of deploying the A380 on routes that are not currently served by the A380 from London Heathrow as the London Singapore route has long been served by Singapore Airlines’ A380.
BA has a total of 12 Airbus A380s on order, of which four have now been delivered to the airline. BA also has options for a further 7 aircraft (instincts tell us BA will probably maintain its order at 12 aircraft).
BA has released a promotional video for the A380 launch to Singapore on YouTube featuring a very excited Sex and the City star Kristin Davis:
BA now flies the Airbus A380 on one of its two daily flights between London Heathrow and Singapore (BA11 / BA12). The remaining flight (BA15 / BA16) which continues from Singapore to Sydney is operated with a Boeing 777-300 aircraft.
Delta Air Lines is to launch a direct route from London Heathrow airport to Chicago O’Hare airport from Sunday 26 October 2014.
Continue reading “Delta launches London Heathrow – Chicago O’Hare from Sunday 26 October 2014”
Some time ago we took a look at British Airways’ most memorable advertisements, spanning no less than four decades.
Whilst much has changed in that time, a common theme was that the most effective airline marketing focuses not on the hardware and mechanics of aviation, but what airlines are fundamentally about: bringing people together.
Last year, British Airways released a special “A Ticket To Visit Mum” video featuring a surprise reunion between a mother and son in Mumbai. And it has today, on Valentines Day, released a further video “Go Further To Get Closer”.
We would defy even the most weary hard-nosed traveller to be moved by these videos!
Continue reading ““Go Further To Get Closer” What airlines are fundamentally about”
When British Airways and Iberia merged in January 2011 under the umbrella of International Airlines Group, the logic seemed clear.
Continue reading “Iberia ends long-running dispute with its pilot union, SEPLA”
British Airways has today confirmed that its flights from London Heathrow to Belfast City and Dublin airports (together making 12 return flights a day) will move from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 from Sunday 24 October 2014.
Continue reading “BA to move Heathrow – Belfast & Dublin flights to Terminal 5”
Virgin Atlantic has today announced that it is to suspend its daily London Heathrow-Sydney service from 5 May 2014. The airline will continue to fly to Hong Kong, where the Sydney flight currently stops en-route.
Continue reading “Virgin Atlantic suspends London – Sydney from 5 May 2014”
British Airways has often been criticised in the past for failing to prove it can compete with rival airlines outside its base at London Heathrow, where it now commands nearly 50% of take off and landing slots. Witness how the airline withdrew entirely from regional point to point operations five years ago and, as reported yesterday, has ceded a significant share of traffic at London Gatwick to easyJet.
The one exception to this is at London City. Some five years ago CityJet, an airline with a complex history and structure, but now under the ownership of Air France KLM, dominated short-haul operations at the airport, with more than twice the share of take off and landing slots as British Airways.
Continue reading “BA turns up the pressure on CityJet at London City”
easyJet posted a good set of financial results last week solidifying its transition from an upstart low cost carrier to a mature pan-European short-haul airline.
The airline also announced a significant expansion at London Gatwick. This has been aided by its acquisition earlier this year of Flybe’s portfolio of slots at Gatwick which now gives easyJet nearly 50% of take off and landing slots at the airport.
In addition to recent route launches to cities such as Bergen and Moscow, next year easyJet will launch new routes to Brussels, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Jersey, Newcastle and Strasbourg. The airline will also increase frequencies by one flight a day on routes to Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Geneva, Inverness and the Isle of Man.
Continue reading “easyJet expands at Gatwick whilst BA seeks to regain lost ground”
American Airlines & US Airways are, after much speculation and uncertainty over regulatory approval (and significant concessions over slots at US airports), expected to merge.
As the two airlines have large domestic networks in the US much of the coverage has naturally focused on the impact in the US.
However, the merger does have implications for travellers in London, particularly frequent flyers of British Airways and Oneworld which is what I focus on in this post.
Continue reading “US Airways & American merger: What does this mean at Heathrow?”