London Gatwick Airfield (Image Credit: London Gatwick Airport)
In a further sign of renewed confidence in its London Gatwick operation, British Airways has added three new routes to its 2015 Gatwick schedule.
These are Seville in Spain (five times weekly) Funchal in Madeira (three times weekly) and Las Palmas in Gran Canaria (twice weekly) which will operate from 29 March 2015.
This is in addition to earlier announcements of Fuerteventura, Friedrichshafen and Grenoble from December 2014.
Other routes launching for summer 2015 will include Cagliari in Sardinia, Heraklion in Crete, Rhodes in Greece and Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey.
London Gatwick Airfield (Image Credit: London Gatwick Airport) British Airways has today announced it is to cancel its thrice weekly London Gatwick – Colombo service, which operated as an additional leg to its service to Male in the Maldives.
The last flight from London Gatwick will operate on 27 March 2015 and the last inbound flight will operate on 28 March 2015.
The Male service will also be suspended from the above dates until 25 October 2015, operating as a seasonal service only.
We’ve seen speculation online recently, much of it completely unfounded it has to be said, regarding whether British Airways will follow other airlines (such as Delta) in changing its frequent flyer programme whereby points/miles are awarded solely by reference to the absolute amount of money spent with the airline, rather than the distance flown on eligible flights.
British Airways Airbus A380 at take off, London Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)
A quick wrap up of some recent BA related developments:
1. London Heathrow Terminal 3 Bussing
After some six and a half years, the use of bus gates for passengers travelling on short-haul flights from Terminal 3 should have now largely come to an end. All short-haul flights should ordinarily be boarded from a gate with a jetty attached.
2. New BA lounge at Washington Dulles
BA is due to open a new lounge at Washington Dulles airport on Friday 26 September. The refurbished facility extends to 10,000 square feet. Passengers travelling in first flass will have access to a waiter service diner area and private bar. All eligible passengers will also be able to enjoy a deli style dining area, a deli bar, rain showers, a business suite. BA also promises power points at almost every seat in the lounge. The new lounge launches in advance of A380 operations at the airport starting on 2 October 2014.
3. Special Meals
BA has withdrawn four special meals with effect from 1 October 2014. These are fruit platter, bland meal, jain meal and seafood meal. Any existing bookings will be honoured.
British Airways Boeing 777 at London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has today, 17 September 2014, announced it is to return to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur from 27 May 2015.
BA will operate a daily flight from London Heathrow Terminal 5, initially with a four class Boeing 777. This may change to Boeing 787).
Here is the initial timetable:
Flight BA33 Depart London Heathrow 20:15 – Arrive Kuala Lumpur 16:00
Flight BA34 Depart Kuala Lumpur 23:05 – Arrive London Heathrow 05:25
The flight timings work well for the business traveller. BA and others have long argued that expansion at Heathrow will open up routes to the East, so it is good to evidence of this in action.
It’s noteworthy that BA has allocated a peak early arrival slot to this route, traditionally reserved for long-standing “trunk” routes such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Johannesburg, so it’s clearly expected to an important route.
BA previously flew to Kuala Lumpur until March 2001, when flights were suspended as part of wide-ranging review of BA’s route network. BA’s predecessor airlines first served Malaysia in 1933.
Kuala Lumpur by BOAC (Image Credit: British Airways)
Kuala Lumpur is of course currently served twice daily by fellow Oneworld alliance partner Malaysian Airlines which has had some well documented problems of late and is currently undergoing a restructuring. There is no news yet on whether Malaysian Airlinesis to reduce capacity from London Heathrow. As BA and Malaysian do not have anti-trust immunity they would be prohibited from discussing/co-ordinating capacity and scheduling decisions on this route.
There is also no news yet on any codeshares with Malaysian Airlines on regional routes from Malaysia which we expect will be important to sustain the route.
At Kuala Lumpur airport, eligible passengers will have access to the Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge. BA flights will depart from Satellite Terminal A.
Finally, for various reasons, new routes to Asia tend to take a while to grow passenger traffic and BA has in the past offered special fares for new route launches such as Chengdu and Seoul, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for any special fares when launch date approaches.
Update May 2015: Contrary to our suggestions above, forward bookings have been described by IAG CEO Willie Walsh as being very strong, so we do not expect any downgrading of capacity by BA on this route.
British Airways Airbus A380 at take off, London Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)
British Airways has confirmed that its next new route for the Airbus A380 will be San Francisco.
This is the sixth BA destination to be served by the A380.
From April 2015, the A380 will operate on one of BA’s twice daily flights between London Heathrow and San Francisco, five days a week.
The A380 will operate as BA287 & BA286 to/from San Francisco to London on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The same flight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will continue to be operated by a Boeing 747, as will the second daily service, BA 285 & BA284.
BA currently operates the A380 on selected flights between London Heathrow and Hong Kong, Johannesburg, and Los Angeles. The A380 is also due to fly to Washington from 2 October and Singapore from Thursday 28 October.
Update January 2018:
BA currently flies the Airbus A380 from London Heathrow to San Francisco on one its daily flights (BA286 & BA287) on Monday, Thursday Saturday until Saturday 24 March 2018. The Airbus A380 operates daily from Sunday 25 March 2018 to Saturday 27 March 2018.
British Airways’ expansion at London City airport continues with the launch of a twice daily service, excluding weekends, from the airport to Hamburg in Germany from 27 October 2014.
The route will be operated for BA by its Scandinavian franchise partner SUN-AIR using a single cabin (so no Club Europe business class) Dornier 328 Turboprop commuter aircraft.
The Sunday Times (of London) has reported on Sunday 7 September 2014 that Virgin Atlantic is to suspend “Little Red” short-haul flights from London Heathrow to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester.
Airbus A320 aircraft in Virgin Atlantic “Little Red” livery
The business section of today’s Sunday Times leads with a story (subscription required) that Virgin Atlantic is to close its “Little Red” domestic operation from London Heathrow to Manchester, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
The good news is BA has today confirmed a refurbishment plan for its Boeing 747 fleet. But for only 18 out of 46 aircraft.
The refurbishment will include the installation of a new Panasonic eX3 (not currently used by the airline) in flight entertainment system which will offer substantially more choice and better reliability than the Rockwell Collins system currently used on the 747, with up to 130 films and 400 TV programmes on a larger TV screen.
The 18 747s will also have “refreshed” interiors which will include new carpets, curtains and seat foam and covers for World Traveller economy and World Traveller Plus premium economy cabins.
Virgin Atlantic has announced a significant over-haul of its network, suspending a number of non-US routes. Mumbai & Tokyo are suspended from 31 January 2015. Seasonal flights to Vancouver & Cape Town are suspended from 11 October 2014 and 26 April 2015.
Virgin Atlantic has today announced a major over-haul of its long-haul network, in what is arguably the single biggest chance to its network since the events of 11 September 2001.
Virgin’s year-round services from London Heathrow to Mumbai and Tokyo Narita will be suspended from 31 January 2015.
Virgin’s seasonal flights from London Heathrow to Vancouver and Cape Town will be suspended permanently from 11 October 2014 and 26 April 2015 respectively.
