London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update – 18 September 2019

A weekly bulletin on transatlantic travel, published every Wednesday at 06:00 BST.

London Air Travel » Atlantic Update » London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update – 18 September 2019

Norwegian Boeing 787 Aircraft, Boston Logan International Airport
Norwegian Boeing 787 Aircraft, Boston Logan International Airport (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

Hello and welcome to London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update providing a weekly bulletin on developments on transatlantic travel between Europe and North America. The Atlantic Update is published every Wednesday morning at 06:00 GMT.

Norwegian Gains Breathing Space

On Monday Norwegian’s bondholders agreed to the extension of two bonds from 11 December 2019 and 7 August 2020 to November 2021 and February 2022 respectively.

This does give Norwegian significantly more financial headroom to get through the winter season. However, its financial health still faces considerable scrutiny, not least given the current volatility of Brent crude which increased by 19.5% on Monday following a drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing centre.

BA Transatlantic Cancellations

BA has cancelled a number of transatlantic return flights in early October for “operational reasons”.

Tuesday 1 October 2019

Flights BA227/226 London Heathrow – Atlanta
Flights BA103/102 London Heathrow – Calgary
Flights BA207/206 London Heathrow – Miami
Flights BA223/222 London Heathrow – Nashville

Wednesday 2 October 2019

Flights BA193/192 London Heathrow – Dallas Fort Worth
Flights BA281/280 London Heathrow – Los Angeles
Flights BA225/224 London Heathrow – New Orleans
Flights BA289/288 London Heathrow – Phoenix

This appears to be unrelated to the current dispute between BA and BALPA and the rebooking guidelines for strike affected passengers are not available for these cancellations. Affected passengers will be re-acommodated on alternative American Airlines and BA flights. As these were announced on successive days just before 14 days, more cancellations may be forthcoming.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Unveils Capital Plan

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has unveiled its Capital Plan for 2020 to 2024 which includes a substantial investment for the New York Subway.

The Subway has long been subject to political wrangling between New York City which owns the Subway, and the State of New York which controls the MTA. Whilst there have been improvements to the Subway’s performance, there is still a long list of outstanding repairs.

The $51.5bn Capital Plan includes a $37.3bn for the New York Subway and Staten Island Railway. The proposals include upgrades to signalling, new subway cars, track modernisation, station improvements including improved accessibility.

Whilst the plan has been given a cautious welcome, the difficult part is securing city, state and federal funding for it.

Also of note this week:

American Airlines marks 30 years of its Miami hub. (American Airlines)

Uber and Lyft may come to Vancouver. (CityLab)

Post publication updates

[Reserved for updates during the day.]

London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update is published every Wednesday at 06:00 GMT. If you have any comments, suggestions or tips then please drop us a line at mail [@] londonairtravel.com

You can follow us on Twitter for breaking news throughout the day. Also, please join us on Monday for our weekly Monday Briefing.

One thought on “London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update – 18 September 2019”

We welcome any thoughts and comments below:

%d bloggers like this: