Gone are the are the post take-off packets of nuts and paper sachets of salt and pepper. The airline will introduce entirely new menus, crockery and glassware.
The way you choose your food will also change. You will choose your starter and dessert from a cart displayed by the crew in the aisle. The starter will also include a choice of hot soup, which is not presently on the main menu.
You will pre-order your main course as normal. However, the choice of main courses has been reduced from four to three.
For dessert, you will have a choice of desserts from a cart and a cheese board.
If we were to make one criticism, it appears BA have not introduced any further choice of coffee in Club World!
Gordon Ramsay – London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: Gordon Ramsay Restaurants)
Gordon Ramsay Plane Food restaurant at London Heathrow Terminal 5 has reopened today, Monday 14 August 2017, after a refurbishment.
The restaurant first opened in March 2008. It was groundbreaking in two respects. First, for raising the bar for airport dining with such a well known chef committing to an airport restaurant where there are limitations on how food can be prepared. It also introduced well publicised dedicated takeaway “picnics” for eating in-flight. Heston Blumenthal followed suit with The Perfectionists Cafe at London Heathrow Terminal 2.
The new restaurant promises a new Asian bar with dishes prepared before guests, a new cocktail bar and a newly refurbished dining area with refreshed menus which can be used for private events.
There is also a new take-on-board Picnic Menu with breakfast, vegetarian, fish and meat options.
BA Boeing 787-9 First Class IFE Screen (Image Credit: British Airways)
We receive a lot of enquiries about what in-flight entertainment (“IFE”) systems are used by BA and what programming is available, so we thought it would be useful to set out what we know.
Long-haul flights
All BA long-haul flights feature a personal IFE screen at every seat with on demand TV and audio programming. However, the systems used and, by extension, the quantity and picture quality of content vary by the type of aircraft.
Short-haul & medium-haul flights
There are no at seat IFE systems on any Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft which operate the vast majority of short-haul flights at London Heathrow or Gatwick.
There are also no at seat IFE systems on any Embraer E-190 aircraft at London City airport.
Let’s look at entertainment on long-haul flights in more detail:
BA In-flight entertainment systems on long-haul flights
BA uses three types of IFE system. In order of sophistication and quality these are:
British Airways Airbus A380 at take off, London Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)
British Airways is to fly its Airbus A380 aircraft to Chicago O’Hare from Tuesday 8 May 2018.
This will be the first time the BA A380 has flown to Chicago. BA will continue to fly to Chicago twice daily.
Currently, the route is operated by the Boeing 747 and 777. The A380 will be a significant upgrade over the albeit recent refurbished Boeing 747s which will continue to ply this route, particularly with regard to seating in premium economy and First Class.
A380 flights to Chicago are on sale now at ba.com. Please note that the operation of the A380 may be subject to seasonal adjustments.
The BA A380 currently operates on selected flights to Boston, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Singapore, Vancouver and Washington. It also operates to Miami in the winter months and Vancouver in the summer.
The latest addition to BA’s A380 network will be sourced from aircraft servicing its existing network. BA has taken delivery of all twelve A380s it has ordered from Airbus.
The airline has options to purchase a further seven aircraft from Airbus but has not exercised them. Willie Walsh, CEO of BA’s parent company International Airlines Group, has expressed an interest in leasing second hand A380s for BA and possibly other IAG group airlines, but nothing has come of this.
BA London Heathrow – Chicago O’Hare
Flight BA295 Depart London Heathrow 10:50 – Arrive Chicago O’Hare 13:25 (Airbus A380)
Flight BA297 Depart London Heathrow 16:05 – Arrive Chicago O’Hare 18:4O (Boeing 747)
Flight BA294 Depart Chicago O’Hare 17:30 – Arrive London Heathrow 07:20 (Airbus A380)
Flight BA296 Depart Chicago O’Hare 20:40 – Arrive London Heathrow 10:25 (Boeing 747) (Excluding Fridays)
Flight BA296 Depart Chicago O’Hare 20:50 – Arrive London Heathrow 10:35 (Boeing 747) (Fridays Only)
Update: Since the announcement the Airbus A380 has switched to flights BA297 / BA296. The launch date also changed to Friday 4 May 2018.
Nashville, Tennessee (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to fly direct from London Heathrow to Nashville, Tennessee from May 2018.
BA will fly to Nashville International Airport five times a week from Friday 4 May 2018. The route will be operated with a three class Boeing 787 Dreamliner with Club World business class, World Traveller Plus premium economy, and World Traveller economy cabins. Flights will depart from London Heathrow Terminal 5.
This is the fourth new route between London Heathrow and North America which BA has launched with the Boeing 787 after Austin,San Jose, and New Orleans.
In terms of possible future expansion in North America, there could well be another 1-2 new routes to be launched by BA. History has shown that BA prefers to launch new routes from London Heathrow where it is, at least initially, the sole operator to London and/or Europe. Therefore, new destinations are likely to North American cities without a direct link to Europe. However, whatever growth potential there may be BA is likely to continue its very steady growth of no more than one new transatlantic route a year.
London Heathrow – Nashville
Flight BA223 Depart London Heathrow 15:45 – Arrive Nashville 18:50
Flight BA222 Depart Nashville 20:20 – Arrive London Heathrow 10:30
British Airways Pilots (Image Credit: British Airways)
Social media has long been a tool used by airlines to engage with their passengers. YouTube and Instagram allow airlines to share slickly produced videos showcasing new aircraft, cabins and routes. Snapchat, for those that have embraced it, allows airlines to take passengers behind the scenes and show case live events such as inaugural flights on new routes.
Arguably, the most significant social media tool is Twitter. But it is something of a double-edged sword for airlines. At its best, it can be effective tool for rapid responses to customer queries and for distilling information quickly. But every airline is one tweet away from a worldwide social media storm.
Twitter not only provides a direct line of communication between passengers and airlines, but also their staff. And a growing number of BA pilots have amassed quite significant followings on Twitter. Not only that they are starting to co-ordinate their presence under the hashtag #BASMART
Leading the initiative is British Airways A380 pilot Dave Wallsworth who has amassed some 25,000 followers. Dave frequently dispatches updates as he plies BA’s Airbus A380 network to destinations such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles.
Air France KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic have today announced a significant series of transactions which will see Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group cede control of Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic is currently 49% owned by Delta Air Lines and 51% owned by Virgin Group.
Air France KLM is to acquire a 31% stake in Virgin Atlantic for £220m, reducing Virgin Group’s ownership of the airline to 20%. Sir Richard Branson is to retain the position of President.
Separately, Delta Air Lines and China Eastern will each acquire a 10% stake in Air France KLM for a combined sum of €751m.
Virgin Atlantic will retain its name. In order to preserve all of its flying rights, it remain a majority UK owned airline with an Air Operating Certificate in the UK. (Quite how this will be achieved has not been disclosed.)
In addition, Virgin, Delta and Air France KLM are to operate a combined transatlantic joint-venture between Europe and the United States. At present Delta has separate transatlantic joint-ventures with both Air France-France and Virgin Atlantic.
Operating a combined joint-venture will mean that Virgin will codeshare on Air France KLM’s transatlantic routes from Paris and Amsterdam and allow reciprocal earning of frequent flyer miles and recognition of frequent flyer benefits. Virgin and Air France KLM will also benefit from access to each other’s corporate customer bases.
There are a few unknowns:
Nothing has been said about whether Virgin Atlantic will join the SkyTeam alliance of which Delta and Air France KLM are members.
When Delta acquired a 49% share in Virgin Atlantic there was a significant restructuring of its route network with routes to Tokyo, Cape Town, Mumbai, and Vancouver suspended. Virgin has also suspended Accra, Nairobi and Sydney. This has left only Dubai, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Delhi as non-US long-haul routes from London. It’s not clear whether these will remain or be removed in favour of codeshares from the respective hubs of KLM and Air France.
The press releases refer to co-location at key hubs to improve connectivity and achieve cost savings. One of these is London Heathrow. Currently Delta and Virgin Atlantic fly from Terminal 3. Air France and KLM operate from Terminal 4. Consolidating all operations in one terminal would make sense, but would involve a lot of upheaval.
It’s also not clear whether Virgin’s frequent flyer programme “Flying Club” will remain in the long term or be merged with Air France KLM’s “Flying Blue”. Today’s release refers to an enchanced frequent flyer partnership. However, a combined flying programme could be a powerful rival to the British Airways Executive Club and Avios currency, particularly given that KLM has a substantial presence at UK regional airports.
Whilst today’s announcement has been heralded as positive news, it has to be noted that Virgin Atlantic is forecast to make a loss this year. Furthermore, with Virgin suspending London Heathrow – Chicago it was arguably struggling to compete against its transatlantic rivals.
As for Sir Richard Branson, this does effectively mean the end of his ambitions in the aviation industry. Whilst the Virgin name will remain, he will no longer control the airline. The Virgin Group has disposed of many businesses over the years, but it had always maintained that it would keep control of Virgin Atlantic, this business most closely associated with his public persona.
Here are the news releases from Air France KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson has also penned a letter (with the inevitable barbs at BA and International Airlines Group CEO Willie Walsh).
The flight will be operated with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 36 flat-bed seats in business class, 70 “Economy Plus” seats and 113 seats in economy.
Note that in business class the flight will operate with United’s “Polaris” in-flight amenities, but not the latest Polaris business class seat that was announced late last year.
The London Heathrow – Denver route is currently served exclusively by BA. Norwegian is also due to fly from London Gatwick to Denver from London Gatwick to Denver from 16 September 2017.
Flights are on sale now at United.com
London Heathrow – Denver
Flight UA28 Depart London Heathrow 11:40 – Arrive Denver International 14:30
Flight UA27 Depart Denver International 17:35 – Arrive London Heathrow 09:40
BA is parting company with its advertising agency of 12 years, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (“BBH”).
BBH has produced what is understood to be its last work for the airline, a new safety video which also seeks to raise funds for its charity partner, Comic Relief.
The advertising and media group WPP (led by Sir Martin Sorrell) has secured the BA advertising account as well as work for other business units of BA’s parent company, International Airlines Group.
BBH won the advertising account for BA in late 2005, prizing it away from Charles and Maurice Saatchi whose relationship with BA dated back to the 1980s. The Saatchi brothers have been credited with transforming BA’s image from “Bloody Awful” to “The World’s Favourite Airline”.
At the time, such was the prestige attached to the BA advertising account, the move generated huge headlines. M&C Saatchi responded by taking out a double page advertisement in The Times stating is was “Now taking new airline bookings”. In 2007, it also remade “The Face” for the now defunct rival airline Silverjet.
It is fair to say it took a while for BBH to get into its stride. Much of this was due to BA itself. The airline encountered significant operational issues at its Heathrow hub, most notably the chaotic opening of Terminal 5 in 2008. Then followed the financial crisis which depressed BA’s traffic numbers and triggered industrial relations tensions as BA sought to restructure its business.
To 2017, this year has been something of an “annus horribilis” for BA. It has received a torrent of negative publicity for service cutbacks, notably the introduction of “Buy On Board” food and drink on short-haul flights. Furthermore, issues that had dogged the airline in the past, such as industrial relations tensions and operational issues at Heathrow, have returned to the fore. Frequent flyers have also become weary at service cut backs and a lack of innovation on board.
WPP will need to reinvograte the brand for the benefit of not only customers, but also its staff and opinion formers. However, as history has shown for BA, an agency can only produce its best work when its client has confidence in itself from putting its best foot forward.
Here’s our run through of BBH’s notable work for BA:
Primera Air is to launch direct flights frowm London Stansted to Boston and Newark in the spring of 2018.
Flights from London Stansted to Boston will launch on Saturday 19 May 2018, operating four times weekly.
Flights to from London Stansted to Newark will launch on Thursday 19 April 2018, operating daily.
These flights will be the first transatlantic operations from London Stansted in many years.
What is also noteworthy is that Primera Air will be using the Airbus A321 aircraft, in a two class economy and premium economy configuration.
Primera Air will be the first airline to use this aircraft for transatlantic flights from the U.K. It will be interesting to see if this aircraft facilitates more expansion and more new entrants into the market, in the same way the Boeing 787 facilitated the arrival of Norwegian at London Gatwick and the launch of many new routes by BA at London Heathrow.
The airline is a relatively unknown name in the UK. Its operations are mainly based in Scandinavia, operating short-haul flights in Europe.
Primera Air is of course not the first airline to seek to enter the UK transatlantic market. There is a long list of airlines that have tried and failed: eos, MaxJet, SilverJet and La Compagnie.
Given that its rivals offer very high levels of frequency on this route and many of its passengers are wielded to their frequent flyer cards, a strong marketing effort will also be required to generate traffic.
If Primera Air is to be successful in what is a very competitive market then it will need to instil confidence, before and after launch, that it will have reliable operations with sufficient contingency plans if things go wrong.
Flights are on sale now at Primera Air with promotional fares from £149 each way.
Update February 2018:. Primera Air has since announced it will launch three times weekly flights to Toronto Pearson from Saturday 19 May 2018 and four times weekly flights to Washington Dulles from Wednesday 22 August 2018.
London Stansted – Boston
Flight PF043 Depart London Stansted 17:00 – Arrive Boston 20:10 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)
Flight PF044 Depart Boston 21:40 – London Stansted 09:30 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)
London Stansted – Newark
Flight PF041 Depart London Stansted 17:55 – Arrive Newark 21:20
Flight PF042 Depart Newark 22:50 – Arrive London Stansted 11:00
