Our Monday Briefing is published at 06:00 GMT every Monday morning featuring the latest news and developments in air travel in London and around the world.
Qantas Boeing 787-9 Aircraft VH-OJA Pre Departure, London Heathrow Terminal 3, Thursday 14 November 2019 (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 1 November 2021.
Australia Reopens To International Travel
Today marks the resumption of many scheduled international passenger flights to Australia. Sydney and Melbourne have reopened their borders to international travel without mandatory quarantine.
The first international flight to land in Sydney this morning was Singapore Airlines flight SQ211 arriving early at 05:21 AEDT. This beat the first scheduled arrival, Qantas flight QF12 from Los Angeles at 06:04 AEDT.
Qantas’ first scheduled flight to London in more than 18 months, QF1, departs Sydney at 18:30 AEDT today. After a refuelling stop in Darwin, it will arrive at London Heathrow Terminal 3 at 06:50 GMT tomorrow.
Heathrow Airport At Night (Image Credit: Heathrow)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 25 October 2021.
Air Passenger Duty Rise?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is due to announce his budget this coming Wednesday.
As is par the course, selected tidbits are leaked to newspapers in advance. On Friday night The Guardian reported that the Chancellor is due to announce an increase in Air Passenger Duty.
This will be done by introducing a new higher band for longer range flights of more than 6,000 miles.
Currently, the reduced and standard rate of APD for flights longer than 2,000 miles is £82 and £180 respectively. This is due to increase to £84 and £185 from 1 April 2022.
Whilst the new band will not affect most destinations from London, further increases to the cost of flying will infuriate the airline industry.
Longer range flights can have relatively high volumes of Visiting Friends & Relatives traffic and are rarely taken on whim. This also comes on top of plans for substantial increases in passenger charges for airlines at London Heathrow.
Conversely, the Chancellor is reported to be considering reductions in APD for domestic flights to fit with the government’s “levelling up” agenda.
Provincetown, Cape Cod (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 18 October 2021.
BA & Virgin Rebuild Transatlantic Networks
Following last week’s news that the US will reopen to fully vaccinated visitors from the UK on Monday 8 November, both BA and Virgin Atlantic are rebuilding their transatlantic schedules.
BA will return to Newark from Monday 1 November. Las Vegas and Orlando follow at Heathrow on Monday 15 November. As does Tampa at Gatwick. BA also reinstates Orlando at Gatwick from Friday 19 November.
BA is also expected to reinstate Baltimore, Nashville and New Orleans from Thursday 9 December. San Jose, California, is currently suspended until Sunday 27 March 2022. There are currently no plans to relaunch Charleston, Pittsburgh or Portland.
Virgin Atlantic will restart flights to Las Vegas and Orlando on 8 November. Seattle and Washington Dulles will restart on 1 March 2022. Virgin’s transatlantic partner Delta also restarts Detroit today.
United, which last week announced a number of new transatlantic routes for next summer, is yet confirm whether it will go ahead and launch Boston from Heathrow.
Outside of the North Atlantic, BA has pushed back plans to restart Bangkok until 10 January 2022 even though Thailand is reopening to visitors. Qantas confirmed last week it will restart scheduled flights from London Heathrow to Sydney via Darwin from 2 November 2021.
AMOR, Robert Indiana, Philadelphia (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 11 October 2021.
Singapore Airlines Adds “Vaccinated Travel Lanes” Flight At Heathrow
Singapore Airlineshas added a dedicated “Vaccinated Travel Lanes” flight (SQ317) from London Heathrow with effect from Tuesday 19 October.
This means that fully vaccinated passengers, subject to pre-departure application & testing requirements, do not need to quarantine on arrival in Singapore.
They were first introduced in September for travel on designated flights from Brunei and Germany to Singapore.
On Saturday 9 October the Singapore government announced VTLs would be extended to the UK with effect from Tuesday 19 October. Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States were also added to the VTL programme.
The principal prerequisite is that vaccinated passengers must fly to Singapore on a designated VTL flight.
Passengers must still take a PCR test within 48 hours before departure to Singapore and another PCR test on arrival. No further PCR tests will be required in Singapore. Passengers must also have not visited a non-VTL country within 14 days of their flight to Singapore.
It is likely that BA will follow suit an introduce dedicated VTL flights. It should be added that BA does not have permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore to accept passengers flying on from Singapore to third countries, except for those connecting onto JetStar.
JetBlue Airbus A321LR N4022J Aircraft, London Gatwick Airport, 30 September 2021 (Image Credit: JetBlue)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 4 October 2021.
International Air Transport Association AGM
The International Air Transport Association (“IATA”) is holding its Annual General Meeting this week.
IATA, naturally keen to point to a return of in person meetings and the value of face to face communication, is holding the event in Boston in conjunction with the World Air Transport Summit.
JetBlue, pictured above at London Gatwick last week, is the host airline.
IATA has cautiously welcomed moves by Australia and the United States to reopen their borders to international travel. IATA is likely to press that this is not enough. Existing government measures such as mandatory quarantine should be time limited. They should not stay in place any longer than is necessary. Whilst some countries and airlines only accept fully vaccinated passengers, alternative measures should be introduced to allow non-vaccinated passengers to fly.
On the subject of mandatory quarantine, yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph splashed with a claim that the UK government could cut the red list to just 9 countries. The list is due to be updated this Thursday. Such claims have not come true in the past. Very often these are leaked by factions in government to try and bounce others into action.
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 27 September 2021.
The Hub Without The Hubbub
So that’s it.
After decades of short haul operations at Gatwick and periodic reinventions to compete against low cost airlines, BA has finally pulled the plug.
Or has it?
British Airways at London Gatwick Airport, 1979
There is a curious lack of detail on what BA and IAG have planned next for Gatwick. Last week the airline advised it will not pursue plans to set up a new subsidiary company to operate short haul flights after talks with the pilots union BALPA broke down. “Alternative uses” for the slots will be pursued.
Although short haul flights from Sunday 27 March 2022 at Gatwick are off sale, they are still loaded in online timetables. There’s also been no published guidance for the travel trade, nor any official updates to the stock exchange from IAG.
This was the first industrial relations test for Luis Gallego and Sean Doyle – both of whom have tried to emphasise a more emollient approach than their predecessors.
Anyone who has paid any attention to BA industrial relations over the years has come to expect a fair amount of sabre rattling and rough and tumble. The airline has also shown it can be very patient – even when this is tested to the limit – and will also sit out negative publicity to get what it wants. So it seems slightly odd the airline has appeared to have walked away from this so easily. BA and BALPA have certainly had much greater differences in the past.
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER Aircaft B-KPM (Image Credit: Cathay Pacific)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 20 September 2021.
In this week’s update we look at Cathay Pacific’s 75th anniversary celebrations and the return of South African Airways. We also have the latest BA route network updates for this week.
Plus tensions are rising between Heathrow and its airlines over passenger charges and between the EU and Asia over “use it or lose it” slot rules.
Cathay Pacific Marks Its 75th Anniversary
Cathay Pacific marks the 75th anniversary of its formation in 1946 this coming Friday 24 September.
It wasn’t until 1980 Cathay Pacific began flying from London. This was enabled in part by the Boeing 747 and an Open Skies treaty between the UK and Hong Kong. This ended BA’s monopoly on the route (and its small shareholding in Cathay Pacific) and opened the route to four airlines. The others being British Caledonian and Freddie Laker’s Sky Train.
Cathay Pacific initially flew from Gatwick via Bahrain three times a week from 17 July 1980.
Manhattan at Sunrise (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 13 September 2021.
easyJet Looks To Raise Funds As Wizz Air Circles
Last week the Commons Transport Select Committee, without any hint of irony, pondered the question what can be done to help the UK’s once buoyant aviation sector recover from COVID-19.
It is not the first time the Select Committee has looked at aviation during COVID-19. Its report last year, with carefully placed soundbites, earned itself plenty of headlines for kicking BA over what was largely a hypothetical legal scenario.
It had complete blindspots cover the imminent collapse of Norwegian’s long haul operations and Virgin Atlantic’s precarious financial position. It also had no practically useful content for anybody, whether they be passengers, employees or airline management. It is hard to see what influence this latest exercise this will have on anything.
One bright spot is yesterday’s Mail On Sunday splashed with a claim that the government is planning to end the requirement for a PCR test for fully vaccinated travellers before returning to England. A lateral flow test also need only be required two days’ after arrival.
This has been followed up by today’s Telegraph which reports that the traffic light system will be scrapped. Whilst a “red list” of countries that require hotel quarantine on arrival will remain, this will be shrunk.
Meanwhile airlines are making their own manoeuvres. Last week easyJet revealed it had received an unsolicited takeover bid from Wizz Air. It also plans a £1.2 billion rights issue.
BA CityFlyer London – Amsterdam, Dublin, Zurich (Image Credit: British Airways)
Welcome to return of London Air Travel’s weekly Monday Briefing after a summer break.
The September Issue
Today, Monday 6 September, is the end of the Parliamentary Recess in the UK.
It is also the Labor Day holiday in the US and Canada, effectively marking the end of summer and “back to work”.
It is traditionally at this time that airlines begin announcing their plans for the next summer season. There is much to do to get through the winter first.
Over the summer Mark Kleinman of Sky News broke the story that Virgin Atlantic is seeking a listing on the stock exchange to raise new funds. The Sunday Telegraph followed this up yesterday.
Talks are said to be underway with bondholders, creditors and lenders to secure their approval. There is said to be concern amongst some about Virgin Group ceding control of the airline and what may happen if it requires further financing.
It’s worth recalling that when Virgin Atlantic undertook a solvent recapitalisation last year, its worst case scenario was that travel restrictions would remain in place until August. It’s now expected that the US will not relax travel restrictions until at least late November this year.
British Airways Aircraft At Sunset, London Heathrow
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 19 July 2021.
This will be our last weekly update before a break for the summer holidays. Our next planned edition will be published on Monday 6 September.
Some months ago there were widespread predictions that demand in the UK for summer holidays in Europe would be so great that BA would be despatching wide body aircraft from Heathrow to Palma de Mallorca.
Well on Saturday a wide body aircraft did land at Palma de Mallorca airport. But it was a Boeing 747-8 operated by Lufthansa from Frankfurt.
This was one of many predictions about this summer, along with the reopening of the US and new routes to Europe, that sadly did not come to pass. It is hoped that at least by September there will be more positive news.
Looking Ahead To August
Looking ahead to August, JetBlue should launch its inaugural flight from London Heathrow to New York JFK on 12 August.
Air Canada will also reinstate flights from Heathrow to Montreal on 4 August. Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave positive soundings about reopening Canada to vaccinated travellers later this summer.
IAG will announce its half year results on Friday 30 July. Management will no doubt be pressed again on their plans for Gatwick. This will no doubt be influenced in part by what slot waivers are announced in the coming weeks for the winter season.
BA Route Network Updates
With perfect timing, BA returns to Paris Charles de Gaulle at London Heathrow today.
Summer seasonal flights to Bastia are due to restart on Friday. Flights to Florence and Nice also restart at London City on Friday.
Twice weekly flights from Heathrow to Antigua on Wednesday & Saturday start this week. A weekly flight to St Lucia also launches on Saturday.
At Gatwick, BA returns to Providenciales and Grenada on Tuesday & Wednesday respectively, both from London Gatwick via Antigua. BA also returns to Montego Bay on Saturday.
You can keep to update with ongoing BA route network changes with our dedicated listings of short haul and long haul flights.
