British Airways partnership with Marks & Spencer “M&S On Board” (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has today, Wednesday 1 May 2019, refreshed its Marks & Spencer Buy On Board menu in its EuroTraveller short-haul economy cabin.
The full menu and current prices can be viewed on ba.com. The main changes are changes to the drinks brands and special products to mark BA’s centenary.
Out goes Kenco & Java Republic coffee, Twinings tea, Highland Spring water, and Fever Tree tonic water.
In comes Cru Kafe coffee, Teapigs tea, Harrogate Spring water (also now on long-haul flights) and Schweppes tonic water.
Also added to the menu are a special Pickering’s gin and English Chapel Down white wine, both made exclusively for BA.
BA has also introduced a special Brewdog Speedbird 100 IPA to mark its centenary, which is also available on long-haul flights and selected BA lounges.
British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has unveiled official images of its revamped Club lounge at New York JFK Terminal 7.
The new lounge opened last week and completes BA’s refurbishment of its lounge complex at New York JFK Terminal 7, after the new First lounge opened last year. The Concorde Room is not being refurbished.
The lounge structure is largely the same as before with an Elemis travel spa, self-service bars and a revamped pre-flight dining area (for evening flights). New facilities include a new entertainment room with audio visual equipment from Sony, a BrewDog craft beer room and a granite topped Quaich Bar, staffed by a bartender.
If you’ve not visited the lounge before, it is huge, something that is not conveyed in the press photographs. It is easily the biggest BA lounge outside of London.
The lounge is also available to eligible passengers travelling on other airlines operating at Terminal 7 such as ANA and Iberia. The lounge is open all day (though BA check-in desks aren’t). This lounge will have a relatively short life span. Terminal 7 is due to be demolished and BA is to join American Airlines in Terminal 8 from 2022.
British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 (Image Credit: British Airways) British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 (Image Credit: British Airways)British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 (Image Credit: British Airways)British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 (Image Credit: British Airways)British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 (Image Credit: British Airways)British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 (Image Credit: British Airways)British Airways Club Lounge New York JFK Terminal 7 Elemis Spa (Image Credit: British Airways)
Update: BA has released a short video tour of the lounge:
The refurbishment of the Club lounge appears to be now complete. This must be the largest BA lounge outside of London. The facilities are largely the same as before with an Elemis travel spa and pre-flight dining.
However, BA promises a new lobby area, improved audio visual entertainment from Sony, a Brew Dog Craft Beer Room, and larger self-service food areas.
This new lounge will have a relatively limited life span as Terminal 7 is due to be demolished. BA will join its alliance partner American Airlines in Terminal 8 from 2022.
Unfortunately, no official press pictures are available at the moment. But these should be made available in the next couple of weeks.
Fort Lauderdale Beach (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
British Airways is to suspend its route from London Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale.
The last flights between Gatwick and Fort Lauderdale are scheduled to operate on Saturday 7 September 2019.
The route currently operates three times weekly. It launched in 2017 and, like BA’s now suspended route to Oakland, followed the launch of this route by Norwegian at Gatwick.
Norwegian has in the past month switched its Gatwick – Fort Lauderdale route to Miami International. This means London will have no direct link to Fort Lauderdale. This is a shame as Fort Lauderdale is a worthwhile destination in its own right and an alternative to what is a very unpredictable arrivals experience at Miami International.
Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are entitled to a full refund. Alternatively, passengers can be re-accommodated on American Airlines and BA services from Heathrow to Miami International. However, any additional costs such as ground transportation will be at your own expense.
Affected passengers should check the status of their booking at ba.com and contact either BA or their travel agent.
Update: BA has published guidance which adds that affected passengers can also choose to fly from Gatwick to Orlando or Tampa in Florida. Again, any consequential costs will be at passengers’ expense.
British Airways Airbus A380 Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)
Every year the parent company of British Airways, International Airlines Group, publishes an annual fleet plan at its Capital Markets Day.
Here’s the latest fleet plan published last November:
International Airlines Group Capital Markets Day (Image Credit: International Airlines Group)
As this is published for the group as a whole, it’s not easy to distill which orders and future deliveries relate to BA, particularly for short-haul aircraft.
However, BA has just filed its own annual accounts. We read these things so you don’t have to, and here is BA’s plan for new aircraft deliveries as at 31 December 2018:
British Airways Fleet Plan at 31 December 2018
This does pre-date IAG’s decision to order 18 Boeing 777-9 aircraft for BA. Although it includes one wet-leased SAAB aircraft, it doesn’t include others such as Air Belgium’s Airbus A340. BA CityFlyer is also due to acquire an additional (presumably second hand) Embraer E190 aircraft for London City.
Taking this into account, planned deliveries of new aircraft are:
Short-haul
Airbus A320neo: 18, with options for 33. 3 have been delivered this year. Airbus A321neo: 9, 2 have been delivered this year.
Long-haul
Airbus A350-1000: 18 aircraft, with options for 36 more. 4 will be delivered this year. Boeing 777-300: 4 aircraft, to be delivered in 2020. Boeing 777-900: 18 aircraft, to be delivered from 2022 to 2025. Boeing 787-9: options for 6 more aircraft. Boeing 787-10: 12 aircraft, to delivered from 2020 to 2023.
In total, that’s 52 new wide body aircraft over the next five years so, to replace at least 35 Boeing 747 and 3 Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
This does allow for a substantial amount of growth, but is of course subject to change depending on economic and geopolitical events.
On other point of note is that BA’s options to acquire a further 7 Airbus A380 aircraft have now either expired or been cancelled. Following the decision by Airbus to end production of the Airbus A380 it has been clear that BA would not be ordering any more new A380s. This is now beyond any doubt.
British Airways Boeing 747 G-BNLY “City Of Swansea”, Dublin (Image Credit: British Airways)
Journalism and PR is a murky business.
Journalists depend on PRs for access to stories which, if denied, benefit rival publications. PRs also require the support of journalists for press coverage.
Much of what is written by journalists can be briefed “in background” by PRs. This even applies to stories that are officially denied with the statement “we do not comment on speculation”, but have been briefed off the record for one reason or another. Lines have also become blurred as many journalists, not always by choice, have moved into the world of PR.
There are rules of the game. Press embargoes must be respected. And a PR offered to comment on a journalist’s exclusive story must not try to take the sting out of it by leaking to a rival.
If rules are broken, it’s taken very personally and not forgotten. Scores will be settled.
That might be one reason why BA has withdrawn the Financial Times from its aircraft and lounges around the world. It has run a number of negative stories of late, such as questions over security at its call centre in Bremen. That said, it is hardly the only newspaper to have done so.
The FT has not taken to this quietly. It has taken out adverts on social media and its own paper encouraging readers to buy copies at airports, fly on other airlines, or take out a subscription.
Financial Times Tweet, April 2019
Years ago, if a company was unhappy about its press coverage, rather than indulge in passive aggressive behaviour, its Chairman would simply call the editor or journalist in question and scream at them down the telephone.
As case in point is Lord King, former Chairman of BA. Lord King was notorious for having little patience with journalists. Once under questioning at a news conference, Lord King shouted across the room to a press officer “Hey! I pay you to talk to idiots like these.”
In the early 1990s, the Financial Times ran a series known as “My Office” in which Chairman and CEOs would give FT columnist Lucy Kellaway a tour of their private offices. Many regretted doing so.
Lord King guided Lucy Kellaway through his private picture collection in his office: “That’s me with the Pope…That’s me in the Oval Office with Bush, and me with Billy Graham. That’s me on holiday with Reagan.”
Lucy Kellaway would, some years later, write: “Lord King was trying to tell me that he was important; but what he actually told me was that he was a shocking snob, name dropper and general pain in the backside.”
Lord King was reportedly so incensed at this portrayal of his pomposity he called the editor of the FT and threatened to withdraw all BA advertising from the paper.
Back to BA and newspapers today, in the past many papers would willingly provide free or deeply discounted copies to airlines and hotels to bulk up their circulation figures. These “bulks” are now separated from paid-for circulation figures and many newspapers have weaned themselves of the habit. However, according to the most recent figures, the FT still gives away 30,650 copies a month. Unless the FT is changing its policy on bulks, the reason for its removal is unlikely to be on cost grounds. Whatever the reason for the spat, the two will likely have to kiss and make up at some point.
British Airways Speedbird Logo (Image Credit: British Airways)
The British Airways lounge in Geneva airport will close for refurbishment on Tuesday 28 May 2019.
A new lounge will open later this year. In the interim, eligible passengers namely those travelling in Club Europe or Silver and Gold members of the Executive Club, will be able to use the Skyview Lounge. This is a third party lounge operated by dnata.
This lounge is located near to the existing BA lounge on the mezzanine level in the departures area. Passengers should turn right at the top of the escalator, and the Skyview Lounge is on the left hand side. Pictures of this lounge are on the Oneworld website.
Although no details have been given about the new BA lounge, it is likely to be in a similar format to recently refurbished lounges in Aberdeen and Rome.
The existing lounge in Geneva is largely based on the “Terraces” format which dates to the 1990s with shades of the “Galleries” format introduced ten years ago.
In terms of other BA lounge refurbishments this year, the new Club lounge at New York JFK Terminal 7 is due to open this year. The BA lounge in San Francisco is currently closed for refurbishment and will reopen in the summer. BA is also due to refurbish its lounges in Johannesburg this year. In the medium to longer term, other lounges earmarked for refurbishment include Chicago, Heathrow, Manchester and Miami.
Update Saturday 1 June 2019: The lounge refurbishment has been postponed. A confirmed closure date will be updated shortly.
Update Sunday 9 June 2019: The lounge will close for refurbishment on Monday 10 June 2019 and will reopen in late 2019.
British Airways Boeing 747, Negus Livery (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has unveiled its fourth and final retrospective livery for its centenary year.
One of its Boeing 747 aircraft, registration G-CIVB, has been painted in the Negus & Negus livery.
The aircraft returned to London Heathrow this morning, Thursday 21 March 2019, having been repainted in Dublin over the past week.
“The new name in aviation”
The original livery was designed by the design agency Negus and Negus.
The livery was intended to combine elements of both BEA and BOAC’s identity. It featured BEA’s signature red and a quarter Union Jack on the tail fin to reflect BEA. The blue and white fuselage and the small Speedbird logo was intended to reflect BOAC. This was to appeal not only to the respective customers of BEA and BOAC, but also their staff.
At the same time, the design was intended to be bold enough to make the new (for BEA & BOAC passengers) British Airways name stand out.
British Airways pre BEA & BOAC merger advertisement, September 1973
The livery first came into effect in September 1973 when the British Airways name was adopted in advance of the formal merger of BEA and BOAC in April 1974. The first aircraft to bear the new livery was a BOAC Boeing 707. It took seven years to fully repaint all BEA and BOAC aircraft, with some aircraft carrying hybrid liveries for many years.
“British airways” was in June 1980 abbreviated to just “British”. However, this was considered outside of the UK to be overtly nationalistic in tone. The quarter Union Jack on the tail fin was of course retained for the Landor livery introduced in 1984.
This Boeing 747 aircraft will retain this livery until its retirement in 2022. It’s due to fly to Cape Town under flight BA43 today. There’s no way of predicting exactly on which routes this aircraft will operate. However, as a 52 Club World seat aircraft, it will also regularly operate from London Heathrow Terminals 3 & 5 primarily on routes such as Accra, Denver, Miami, Phoenix and Vancouver.
British Airways Boeing 747, Negus Livery, Dublin Airport (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Boeing 747, Negus Livery, Dublin Airport (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Boeing 747, Negus Livery, London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Boeing 747, Negus Livery, London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Boeing 747, Negus Livery, London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)
Naviglio Grande Canal, Milan (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to launch a new route from London Gatwick to Milan Bergamo.
BA will fly from Gatwick to Milan Bergamo (Orio al Serio International Airport) six times weekly, excluding Saturdays, from Sunday 1 September 2019. The airport is located approximately 60km away from Milan city centre.
Flights will operate year round. As tends to be par the course for BA at Gatwick flight times vary by day.
BA already flies from London City to Milan Linate and from London Heathrow to Milan Linate and Milan Malpensa. It is of course possible to “mix and match” airports if convenient. Milan Linate airport is due to close for three months from 27 July to 27 October 2019 for runway repair work.
Dammam, Saudi Arabia (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to return to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, after a break of more than seven years.
BA will fly to Dammam daily from London Heathrow Terminal 5 from Sunday 1 December 2019.
The route will operate as a “tag on” to BA’s existing service to Bahrain. These have gone out of fashion in recent years in favour of direct flights or local codeshares. Readers may recall BA used to fly to Doha via Bahrain.
The route will be operated with a four class Boeing 777-200 aircraft and flights are on sale now at ba.com
BA previously flew to Dammam up until September 2012 after inheriting the route from bmi British Midland.
