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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.
The Talk Of The Town
American Airlines and BA have provided a little more detail on their plans to co-locate at New York JFK Terminal 8 from 2022.
Terminal 8 is of course well established and houses not only American Airlines but also Oneworld alliance partners Cathay Pacific and Qantas. In order to accommodate BA’s move into the terminal, an additional 70,000 square feet of space will be added. As will five wide body gates and four remote stands capable of handling wide body aircraft.
Given BA can have up to 8 departures from New York JFK in the space of five hours in the evening, there will be some concern that some passengers may have to use remote standards, which would not be fitting for a “blue riband” route.
There’s been much less news on American and BA’s plans for London Heathrow. There was a very vague release some time ago about “big plans” for Terminal 3 which have so far come to nothing.
American has expressed a desire to co-locate with BA at Heathrow Terminal 5, which would make sense, particularly for a route like New York JFK where both airlines are at a disadvantage compared to Delta and Virgin Atlantic who share terminals at both London Heathrow and New York JFK. However, there are likely to be significant process and systems issues to be addressed before American can move into Terminal 5.
The plans for the broader redevelopment of New York JFK are of course a classically American approach to infrastructure investment: celebrating private investment whilst not being prepared to spend public money on underlying problems – namely access to New York JFK from Manhattan.
On that note, the idea of a direct link from Manhattan to La Guardia airport should be welcomed. However, the Governor of New York State Andrew Cuomo is pursuing a proposal, at a cost of some $2 billion, that would result in the majority of passengers from Manhattan passing by La Guardia and then backtracking to get to the airport. This is in spite of considerable protests. (Streets Blog)
Staying with New York City transportation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is rolling out its OMNY contactless payment system to 60 Subway stations by the end of January. (OMNY)
Also of note this week:
American Airlines has issued a revised timetable for the reintroduction of the Boeing 737 MAX. The airline had originally planned to return the aircraft to service on 6 April but this has been deferred again to 4 June 2020. Given the scale of the crisis now engulfing Boeing, there is every possibility that this may be extended again.
Miami Beach has cracked down on restaurants along Ocean Drive, suspending permits to operate on the pavement for pushy behaviour towards members of the public. (Miami Herald).
Late post publication updates:
[Reserved for updates throughout the day]
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