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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.
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American Airlines & Qatar Airways Agree Codeshare
There has been a significant thawing in relations between two fellow members of the Oneworld alliance.
It wasn’t until that long ago that Qatar Airways was threatening to leave the Oneworld alliance following comments made by American Airlines and Qantas against the airline.
There are now signs of improvement in relations. American and Qatar have agreed to reinstate a previously severed codeshare agreement. American will place its code on both non-stop and connecting Qatar operated flights to the US. Qatar will place its code on American operated domestic flights beyond its US hubs and international flights from Europe, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
This will substantially improve American’s coverage of the Middle East, Africa and Asia, where its is currently dependent on a relatively limited codeshare with BA.
American has also expressed an ambition to fly to Doha. The two airlines also plan to explore further commercial co-operation. A logical progression is a full revenue sharing joint-business. However, these take a long time to agree behind the scenes. Given it also involves sharing sensitive commercial information, it requires trust on all sides.
This development, together with new and reinstated relationships with Royal Air Maroc and Air Alaska does also point to American working much harder with its alliance partners.
BA’s First Boeing 787-10 Aircraft Delayed Again
This is like Groundhog Day.
The inaugural flight for BA’s first Boeing 787-10 aircraft has been pushed back once again. Online timetables indicate that the inaugural scheduled passenger flight from London Heathrow to Atlanta will now take place on Tuesday 14 April 2020.
Given the repeated delays, this could well be pushed back again. Online timetables also indicate that the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner is due to fly from London Heathrow to Dallas Fort Worth from Friday 1 May 2020 to Saturday 24 October 2020; Seattle (Flights BA49 & BA48) from Wednesday 1 July 2020 to 24 October 2020 and Nashville from Thursday 3 September 2020 to Thursday 22 October 2020.
Many of these flights may well continue into the winter season as BA is some distance away from finalising its winter schedules.
Also of note this week:
American Express opens its “Centurion Lounge” at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. (American Express)
Following decisions by New York City and San Francisco to ban cars from 14th Street and Market Street respectively, the City of Los Angeles is exploring a car free zone on Broadway. (Urbanize LA)
It’s manhole explosion season in New York. (The City)
Spanish rail company Renfe secures a contract to operate high speed bulletin train between Houston and Dallas, which is yet to commence construction but is due to begin service in 2026. (El Pais In English)
Late post publication updates:
[Reserved for updates throughout the day]
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