Simon Calder (Image Credit: BBC Breakfast News) It has been another big week for aviation news in the national media. Following the controversy surrounding Ryanair’s cancellations to its flying programme, today’s morning headlines led with the suspension of flight operations by Monarch.
Whenever there is an aviation story leading the national news a familiar question appears in our social media feeds. Namely, why do Simon Calder from The Independent and other contributors always appear on the BBC, Sky News and other media outlets!?
First, let’s get one thing clear. This is not intended to be a criticism of Simon Calder. He is a hard-working travel journalist with decades of experience who has survived a tumultuous time in print media. Simon is clearly used by broadcasters because he is reliable, can perform well on camera and is trusted by the audience.
Here’s the first of our weekly round-up of aviation business news, published every Monday at 07:00 UK time.
A major theme in European aviation this year has been another wave of consolidation in Europe. This time it has been forced by Air Berlin, Alitalia and Monarch entering into administration procedures. easyJet, International Airlines Group, Norwegian and WizzAir have all been identified as potential buyers for Monarch’s short-haul business. However, the main value to these airlines will be its slot portfolio at London Gatwick. Full details of the Civil Aviation Authority’s plans to bring stranded passengers back to the UK are on its website.
British Airways Boeing 787-9 First Class (Image Credit: British Airways)
BA has today announced a new summer seasonal route from London Heathrow to The Seychelles. The airline will fly to Seychelles International Airport twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Saturday 24 March 2018 until Saturday 27 October 2018.
The route will be operated by a four class Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner with First Class, Club World business class, World Traveller Plus premium economy, and World Traveller economy cabins. Flights will depart from London Heathrow Terminal 5.
This will be the only direct route from London to The Seychelles. It will also be the first time BA has flown to The Seychelles in approximately 15 years. It previously flew to The Seychelles via Nairobi.
This is one of many former routes that BA has reinstated thanks to the Boeing 787. Others include Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Santiago. BA is also due to launch Nashville in May of next year.
CityJet has once again reduced further its presence at London City Airport. The airline has suspended its routes from the airport to Antwerp and Florence from Friday 27 October 2017.
This comes on top of suspensions to Nantes and Paris Orly as well as Rotterdam. CityJet will continue to fly to Dublin. It will also fly to Amsterdam in conjunction with KLM, leaving just two regular routes. Its summer seasonal routes to Avignon and Toulon are not currently showing as available for booking in 2018.
CityJet was the only airline to fly between London and Antwerp. Florence is well served by year round flights by BA from London City and summer seasonal from Stansted. Its IAG sibling Vueling also flies to Florence year round from London Gatwick and Luton.
Affected CityJet passengers with bookings after 27 October 2017 on these cancelled routes should contact either CityJet or their travel agent.
Update January 2018
London City – Florence is scheduled to resume daily from Sunday 25 March 2018 to Saturday 27 October 2018.
International Airlines Group (“IAG”), the parent company of Aer Lingus, BA, Iberia and Vueling has been paying a lot of attention to Norwegian of late. And it has good reason to do so. Norwegian’s rapacious growth of its low cost long-haul network has been clearly targeted at IAG airlines’ key markets of Ireland, Spain and the UK.
IAG airlines have made a number of competitive responses: BA has matched many Norwegian routes at Gatwick by launching Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, New York JFK and Oakland. It is also reconfiguring its Gatwick based Boeing 777s with more economy seats. IAG also launched a new low cost long-haul airline Level at Barcelona which is expected to expand to more European cities next year.
It is true to say that many airlines have been taken by surprise at how passengers have taken to the concept of low cost long-haul and their unbundled a-la-carte fares. Witness comments from IAG CEO Willie Walsh, who previously questioned the wisdom of charging for items such as hot meals, at its annual investor day last year:
I do not mind admitting that we looked at some things Norwegian did, and I said this publicly and I said, ‘Wow, that is interesting.’ They have actually demonstrated that consumers will accept some things that people questioned whether they would work on long-haul. Having proven this, we have let’s adopt it and we are doing that. It is not that we are trying to respond to them as a competitor. We have learned from them as a competitor and we are responding to a market opportunity.
Aer Lingus has now taken this first step. It has repackaged its fares for direct transatlantic flights from Ireland from Saturday 1 October 2017.
Under its new “Transatlantic Saver” fare, checked luggage, seating assignments and blankets and headphones are no longer included. However, passengers still receive complimentary catering and can make use of the in flight entertainment system. Presumably, this is for operational simplicity as having experienced short-haul flights where only some passengers in a cabin are entitled to free food can be quite chaotic when passengers swap seats.
British Airways Premium Transfer Drive (Image Credit: British Airways)
Something of an unexpected announcement by BA today. The airline is introduce airside transfers by car for selected passengers connecting from UK domestic flights at London Heathrow.
The service is called “Premium Transfer Drive”. It will be available for passengers transferring from UK domestic flights to a short-haul flight in Club Europe or a long-haul flight in Club World or First Class. It will also be available to Silver and Gold members of the BA Executive Club. There’s no mention of reciprocal recognition for Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald frequent flyers.
It will only be available to passengers who are at risk of missing their connections. Affected passengers will be alerted via the crew on their inbound flight to London Heathrow.
This service appears to only apply to UK domestic connections. It will not apply to connections between mainland Europe short-haul flights and long-haul flights.
Clearly, this a welcome move that does make Heathrow a (little) more competitive airport for passengers in UK regions who have a choice of a number of airports in Europe and the Middle East for connections.
That said, it will also be interesting to see how reliable the service is during major operational disruption due to severe weather.
The changes were announced today as Qantas and Emirates are to extend their partnership for a further five years. However, due to regulatory reasons Emirates will not be able to codeshare on Qantas operated services from London to Singapore and London to Perth.
British Airways has today announced it is to launch a new summer seasonal route from London Gatwick to Toronto and reinstate its London Gatwick – Las Vegas route next summer.
BA will fly to Las Vegas three times a week from Tuesday 27 March 2018 on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday until Friday 26 October 2018. BA will fly to Toronto three times a week from Tuesday 1 May 2018, also on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday until Friday 26 October 2018.
Both Las Vegas and Toronto are served by BA at London Heathrow up to twice daily. BA has previously flown from Gatwick to Las Vegas. However, the service was suspended last year.
Toronto is BA’s first route from London Gatwick to Canada. It is something of a surprise to see BA launch the Toronto from Gatwick, as it is not one of the stronger Heathrow routes due to a lack of presence by the Oneworld alliance in Canada.
However, there can be absolutely no doubt this is a move to take on the growth of low lost long-haul at Gatwick. Las Vegas is served by Norwegian. Toronto is also served by both WestJet and Air Canada Rouge.
The following BA and United flights between London and Houston have been cancelled due to flooding following Hurricane Harvey.
Hurricane Harvey TV Coverage (Image Credit: CNN)
Due to severe flooding in Houston following Hurricane Harvey, the following flights to and from London to Houston (George Bush Intercontinental Airport) have been cancelled.
BA has cancelled all flights to and from Houston up to Friday 1 September 2017. Other BA and American Airlines flights to Texas are scheduled to operate normally. BA is allowing passengers booked to fly to and from Austin, Houston and New Orleans up to 7 September to rebook up to Wednesday 20 September 2017.
United Airlines has also cancelled all flights to Houston (George Bush International) until at least Thursday 31 August.
For the latest arrivals / departure information you can visit the websites of Heathrow, BA and United.
Qantas Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner (Image courtesy of Qantas Airways)
Qantas announced its annual financial results in Sydney today. The airline posted a healthy profit before tax of AUD$1.4bn. This is a sharp turnaround in fortunes for Qantas after it reported a record loss of AUD$2.8bn three years ago. Much of the turnaround has been achieved through a restructuring of its international network.
In Europe, Qantas suspended twice daily services from London Heathrow to Sydney via Singapore and Bangkok and to Melbourne via Singapore and Hong Kong in favour of daily services to Sydney and Melbourne via Dubai under a joint-venture with Emirates.
Whilst Qantas seemed to be in retreat in Europe having ceded much market share to the “Big Three” Middle Eastern airlines (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways), its interest has reignited of late. Qantas is due to launch non-stop flights to Perth in March 2018. Qantas is also due to open a new lounge in London Heathrow Terminal 3 this year.
Qantas has also today given a firm expression of interest in launching non-stop flights between London and Sydney by 2022.
Qantas has tasked aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to produce new aircraft under development, the Airbus A350 Ultra Long Range and the Boeing 777X respectively, with sufficient range to operate London to Sydney non-stop with no restrictions on passenger loads.
Qantas claim that a non-stop flight between London and Sydney could shave four hours off the journey time.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce commented:
“From next year we’ll be flying direct from Perth to London, which is a huge leap forward. We believe advances in technology in the next few years will make Sydney to London direct a possibility and Qantas is well placed to be the airline to do it.
“Any aircraft purchase would have to meet strict financial thresholds, but these direct flights would be revolutionary for air travel in Australia.”
Airlines do not ordinarily give away commercial decisions on route launches away years in advance, and this is a very public message aimed squarely at aircraft manufacturers to sharpen their pencils.
It is also axiomatic that the viability of non-stop flights from London to Sydney will depend on how non-stop flights to Perth are received, both in terms of cabin comfort and whether passengers, particularly those at the front of the aircraft, are willing to pay a premium for non-stop services.
Personally, we would love to see non-stop flights to Sydney and for Qantas to rebuild its presence in London back to four flights a day.
Also today, Qantas announced a refurbishment of its Airbus A380 fleet which will include new business class and premium economy cabins and “refreshed” First Class and economy cabins.
