British Airways is to launch a new summer seasonal route from London City airport to the Greek island of Skiathos.
Flights will operate from Monday 26 June 2017 to Wednesday 6 September 2017, three times a week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to Skiathos Island National Airport.. It will resume in 2018 from Monday 25 June 2018 to Wednesday 5 September 2018.
Flights will be operated using Embraer E190 aircraft in a two class, Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy configuration.
Separately BA has announced that London City – Mykonos will operate five times weekly in the summer (every day, except Tuesdays and Saturdays).
This route announcement does increase BA’s summer seasonal which also includes Chania, Corfu, Kalamata, Kos, Mykonos, Santorini and Zakynthos from London Heathrow.
Last year British Airways launched a series of summer seasonal weekend routes from London Stansted to Faro, Ibiza, Malaga and Palma. That was considered a success. This summer BA will continue to fly to Faro, Ibiza, Malaga and Palma as well as launching new routes to Florence, Geneva and Nice between early May and late October.
BA will fly to Florence twice a week from Saturday 20 May 2017 to Saturday 28 October 2017. It will fly to Geneva once a week from Friday 19 May to Saturday 28 October 2017. It will fly to Nice once a week from Saturday 20 May 2017 to Saturday 8 October 2017.
Flights will be operated with Embraer aircraft with a two class, Club Europe business class and EuroTraveller economy, service.
As BA also flies to these destinations from some, or all of, London Heathrow, Gatwick and City airports. As such, it should be possible to “mix and match” flights between different London airports if that is more convenient.
British Airways is to launch a new route from London City to Manchester.
Interested? Well don’t get too excited. There’s just one return flight a week and it only operates from Sunday 21 May to Sunday 1 October 2017!
However, there is method behind the madness. Allow us to explain:
London City is closed from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. As this would leave BA’s fleet of Embraer aircraft otherwise sitting on the ground, last year it ran a successful experiment of summer weekend leisure flights from Stansted. BA is now looking to extend this to other UK airports and Manchester is the latest airport to gain weekend leisure routes.
BA will offer weekend leisure flights from Manchester to Alicante, Ibiza, Malaga, Mykonos, Nice and Palma from late May to October 2017.
As BA needs to move aircraft from London City to Manchester to operate the flights, it has also opened this flight for sale to passengers.
Flights from Manchester are on sale now at ba.com. The only exception are flights between Manchester and London City which go on sale on 21 February 2017.
Please note that the timetables below are indicative only. There may be changes to the schedule depending on the strength of forward bookings.
Whilst food & drink should initially be complementary in EuroTraveller, at some point in the summer BA is expected to extend its Marks & Spencer Buy-On-Board to all London City flights and London Stansted and Manchester weekend leisure flights.
With the exception of Alicante, all of these routes are also served by BA from Heathrow and it should be possible to “mix and match” direct flights with indirect flights via London Heathrow (or via Iberia in Madrid in some cases). If booking connections take care not to book connections from different London airports as any travel between London airports will be at your own expense and not recommended. Continue reading “BAs launches London City – Manchester (sort of..)”
This week’s Australian Financial Review magazine carries an extensive feature on Qantas. It is well worth a read. Much of the feature focuses on the work Qantas is doing to prepare for non-stop flights between London Heathrow and Perth.
These flights are due to go on sale in April 2017 in advance of the route’s launch in March 2018. Whilst Qantas is still keeping some details under wraps, such its new premium economy seat, it has given the AFR some insight into its preparations for the new route. Specifically, Qantas is looking at the whole “ultra long-haul” in flight experience. This includes the design and timing of in flight meals, cabin lighting and in-flight announcements.
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
There has been a lot of interest in the planned new British Airways lounges at London Gatwick’s South Terminal which, from today, is BA’s new home at Gatwick.
The lounges were planned to open today, Wednesday 25 January 2017. However, this has been delayed.
It is understood that construction work is complete and the official line from BA is that it is hoped that the lounges will open “soon”.
In the interim, passengers travelling in First Class on any flight and Gold Executive Club cardholders can use the third party operated No 1 Clubrooms.
In addition, all passengers travelling to Jersey, New York JFK and Bermuda who are eligible for lounge access can use this lounge. However, this will be subject to capacity constraints.
All other passengers who are eligible to access lounges (e.g. Club Europe, Club World and Silver Executive Club cardholders) can use a temporary “Speedbird” lounge operated by BA.
If you are flying BA from Gatwick you should be handed a letter at check-in explaining these options.
It is obviously disappointing that the new lounges are not open today. However, the problems associated with its opening do not seem insurmountable.
Update 7 February 2017
It is understood that the new lounges have undergone a “soft” opening ahead of a formal launch. However, not all facilities may be available at all times.
The new Club lounge is open from 05:15 until the last flight has departed. Passengers travelling in Club World on any long-haul flight and Club Europe to Jersey, and all British Airways Executive Club Silver cardholders travelling on long-haul flights or to Jersey are eligible to use the lounge.
The new First lounge is open from 07:00 until 20:00 and all passengers travelling in First Class and all British Airways Executive Club Gold cardholders are eligible to use the lounge. If there capacity constraints passengers will be invited to use the No 1 Club rooms.
All other passengers, e.g. those travelling in Club Europe to other than Jersey and on Business U.K. tickets and British Airways Executive Club Silver cardholders travelling on short-haul flights other than Jersey will be invited to use the temporary Speedbird lounge.
Update 20 February 2017
It is understood that the new lounges are now fully operational and all other temporary lounge arrangements have been withdrawn.
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)
Today, 25 January 2017, sees a significant reorganisation at London Gatwick. easyJet has consolidated its operations in the North Terminal.
To accommodate this move, British Airways has moved from the North Terminal to the South Terminal. Virgin Atlantic has moved from the South Terminal, its home at Gatwick since the airline first launched in 1984, to the North Terminal.
This move of course means new lounges for both BA and Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic has today opened its new Clubhouse in the North Terminal. It is located on level 4 of the terminal, after security.
Lounge features include:
A marble bar offering complimentary drinks including bespoke cocktails from East London bar The White Lyan
A complimentary to order brunch menu featuring popular staples such as Eggs Benedict
Floor to ceiling windows with views of the airport’s apron
A woodland themed play area for younger travellers
A Clubhouse spa with a selection of complimentary treatments such as facials and paid for treatments such as wet shaves and massages. The spa is open from 7.00am to 12:30pm
First impressions are that the lounge looks bright, spacious and, at least when the weather’s good, the floor-to-ceiling window views should put passengers in the right frame of mind for a holiday.
Here are some official pictures released by Virgin Atlantic:
Passengers travelling in Virgin’s Upper Class cabin and Flying Club gold cardholders are eligible to access the lounge.
Virgin Atlantic flies from London Gatwick to Antigua, Barbados, Cancun, Grenada, Havana, Las Vegas, Montego Bay, Orlando, St Lucia, Tobago and Varadero.
New amenities for British Airways flights between London Heathrow, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong
British Airways is to add additional in-flight amenities and services to passengers travelling between London Heathrow, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Passengers travelling in World Traveller Plus and Club World will be offered slippers. Passengers travelling in all cabins will be offered Twinings green tea, the option of chopsticks for eating meals and bilingual menus.
In the grand scheme of things, these are fairly small changes. It’s also not unusual for BA to offer additional in flight amenities on certain routes for cultural reasons. Slippers have long been offered on flights to Tokyo and bilingual menus are common on many routes.
However, it does point to an effort to do better in China where BA has had mixed success. BA’s route from London Heathrow to Chengdu was suspended this month and BA faces very strong competition from Cathay Pacific on the London – Hong Kong route.
CityJet is to suspend its routes from London City to Nantes and Paris Orly permanently from Sunday 27 March 2017.
CityJet currently flies to Paris Orly and Nantes up to four times daily/weekly respectively.
The airline has scaled back signficantly at London City in recent years. It was once the dominant airline at the airport but has lost out as BA has grown through organic growth with its new fleet of Embraer aircraft and Flybe and KLM have entered the airport.
CityJet will continue to fly to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Dublin, Florence and Rotterdam year round. It will also fly on a summer seasonal basis to Avignon (from 19 May 2017 to 8 September 2017) and Toulon (from 8 April 2017 to 26 October 2017).
CityJet was the only airline to fly to Nantes and Paris Orly from London City. BA operates a summer seasonal service to Nantes from London Heathrow. easyJet also flies to Nantes from London Gatwick. BA flies year round to Paris Orly and transferred the route from Heathrow to London City.
Affected passengers with bookings after 27 March 2017 on these routes should contact either CityJet or their travel agent.
London Gatwick Airfield (Image Credit: London Gatwick Airport)
Finnair is to launch a twice weekly winter seasonal route from London Gatwick to Ivalo, Finland from Thursday 14 December 2017.
The airline will fly from London Gatwick to Ivalo (Ivalo airport) on Thursdays and Sundays until Thursday 22 March 2018. The route then resumes on Thursday 13 December 2018.
Ivalo is the northern most airport in Finland. It is a small airport with just a few flights a day. Ivalo is a popular destination for winter sports, visiting Lapland and witnessing the Northern Lights.
Finnair also flies to Helsinki from London Heathrow, together with its codeshare partner British Airways, up to six times a day. It should be possible to “mix and match” direct flights from London Gatwick with indirect routings if that is more convenient.
Flights are on sale now at Finnair.com However, do note that it is only possible to book flights up to approximately a year in advance.
Finnair also flies from London Gatwick to Kittilä (Kittilä airport) on Tuesdays from 12 December 2017 to Tuesday 20 March 2018. The route then resumes on Tuesday 11 December 2018. Both routes are also codeshared with British Airways.
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, Hong Kong (Image Credit; Virgin Atlantic)
Virgin Atlantic has long been known for its small, but distinctive, portfolio of Clubhouse lounges around the world. That portfolio will be a little smaller shortly as its Clubhouse at Hong Kong International Airport is to close from Sunday 5 February 2017.
The reason for the closure is that the lease on the space occupied by the clubhouse has come up for renewal and Virgin Atlantic has decided not to renew the lease for reasons of cost.
Passengers travelling in Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class cabin and Flying Club Gold members will be able to use the third party Plaza Premium lounge.
