London Air Travel

British Airways Launches Gatwick – Aruba & Georgetown

British Airways will fly to Aruba and Georgetown, Guyana in the summer of 2023.

British Airways Lounge, South Terminal, London Gatwick (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways will fly from London Gatwick to Aruba and Georgetown, Guyana in summer 2023.

BA will fly to Queen Beatrix International Airport on the island of Aruba twice weekly on Thursday & Sunday from 26 March 2023. This operates as a “tag on” to existing flights from Gatwick to Antigua.

A constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Aruba is located 18 miles north of the Paraguaná Peninsula of Venezuela.

The airline will also fly to Georgetown, Guyana twice weekly on Monday & Thursday from 27 March 2023. The service to Cheddi Jagan International Airport also operates as a “tag on” on BA’s service from Gatwick to Saint Lucia.

British Airways Moves To Terminal C At Orlando Airport

BA flights will arrive & depart from Terminal C, Orlando International Airport, from Wednesday 21 September 2022.

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Picture of Terminal C, Orlando International Airport. — Terminal C, Orlando International Airport (Image Credit: Greater Orlando Aviation Authority)

BA flights between London and Orlando will arrive and depart from Terminal C at Orlando International Airport from Wednesday 21 September 2022.

BA is one of ten airlines due to move into the new terminal in September.

Aer Lingus will transfer the day before on Tuesday 20 September.

British Airways Adds Winter Seasonal Routes At Gatwick

BA has reinstated winter seasonal short haul routes from Gatwick to Geneva, Lyon and Salzburg.

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Salzburg Landscape (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has relaunched a number winter seasonal routes from London Gatwick airport.

BA will return to Salzburg from Monday 31 October 2022 until Saturday 25 March 2023.

The airline will also return to Geneva and Lyon from Saturday 3 December 2022 until Saturday 25 March 2023.

Existing routes to Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, Malaga, Marrakech, Nice, Tenerife and Verona are also extended into the winter season.

London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing – 8 August 2022

Welcome to London Air Travel’s weekly briefing on air travel around the world, as published every Monday at 06:00 BST.

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British Airways Galleries First Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: British Airways)

Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 8 August 2022.

Aviation Faces The Prospect Of A Recession

When airlines announced their second quarter results, they were been keen to trumpet strong demand and, for the most part, a return to profitability.

They had much less to say about the prospects for 2023. The Bank of England did, however.

When it announced a rise in interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75% last week the Bank of England forecast the UK would enter recession this year.

This is expected to last for five quarters and will be as deep as the recession of the 1990s. Inflation in the UK is expected to peak at 13% will stay at close to 10% for most of next year.

London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing – 1 August 2022

Welcome to London Air Travel’s weekly briefing on air travel around the world, as published every Monday at 06:00 BST.

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Iberia Airbus A350-900 Aircraft “Paco De Lucia” (Image Credit: Iberia)

Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 1 August 2022.

Iberia Restores Latin America Route Network

Iberia, currently the star performer at IAG, has confirmed its route network for the winter season.

The airline will return to Rio de Janeiro and Caracas, both three times weekly. These are the last long haul routes Iberia intends to reinstate post COVID-19.

Together with Aer Lingus and BA this means IAG has largely restored is pre-COVID-19 route network to the Americas.

Routes benefiting from increased frequencies include Havana which goes to five times weekly. Frequency increases are also planned on Guatemala – El Salvador and Quito – Guayaquil.

Bogota, Buenos Aires and Mexico City will be served twice daily. Lima, Santiago and São Paulo will be served daily.

Montevideo, Panama City and Puerto Rico will also be served throughout the winer.

On North American routes, Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas / Fort Worth and Los Angeles will continue throughout the winter. As do New York JFK and Miami up to twice daily. San Francisco and Washington Dulles will end for the winter.

British Airways’ 2022 Half Year Results

British Airways and its parent company IAG have returned to profit for the first time since COVID-19.

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British Airways Cabin Crew, 2022 (Image Credit: British Airways)

BA’s parent company International Airlines Group released its half year results today, Friday 29 July 2022.

BA reported its first operating profit since COVID-19 with a profit of £54 million for the second quarter of this year. At a group level IAG made an operating profit of €293 million.

Again, BA’s recovery from COVID-19 lags that of other IAG airlines. BA’s capacity measured by Available Seat Kilometres was around 30% less than the same quarter in 2019. This compares to 13% for Iberia. Passenger revenue was also 27% less at BA, compared to 4% less for the same quarter at Iberia.

Premium leisure revenue has recovered to around 85% of 2019 levels. Premium business revenue has recovered to around 60% of 2019 levels. Again, this lags Iberia.

IAG Orders More Airbus A320neo Aircraft

British Airways parent company has ordered more short haul aircraft from Airbus.

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Picture of British Airbus A320neo aircraft, G-TTNA, in flight. — British Airways Airbus A320neo aircraft, G-TTNA (Image Credit: British Airways)

BA’s parent company International Airlines Group has ordered more short haul aircraft.

IAG has today, Thursday 28 July, ordered 37 A320neo family aircraft from Airbus.

It has exercised 12 options from a previous order. IAG has also placed a new order for 25 aircraft.

These will be delivered between 2025 and 2028 and will be used to replace existing Airbus A320ceo aircraft.

IAG has also acquired options for 50 more aircraft. If these are exercised, the aircraft will be delivered between 2028 and 2030.

IAG will decide closer to the time which airlines in the group will receive them, as well as the split between Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft.

As with existing new Airbus A320 family aircraft the configuration will be standardised so aircraft can move around the group.

British Airways Relaunches London Gatwick – Cape Town

British Airways will relaunch winter seasonal flights from London Gatwick to Cape Town from 13 December 2022.

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British Airways has relaunched its winter seasonal route from London Gatwick to Cape Town.

The route returns for the first time since COVID-19 on Tuesday 13 December 2022.

Flights will operate three times weekly until Saturday 25 March 2023.

Flights depart Gatwick on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, with the return flights from Cape Town the following day.

Extra flights to Cape Town are welcome. Though for Club World passengers you should be guaranteed to have BA’s Club Suite on a flight between Heathrow and Cape Town. Whereas at Gatwick, you are guaranteed to have BA’s old Club World cabin.

According to BA’s latest schedule updates, it will add a second daily flight from Heathrow to Cape Town on 20 November.

Sadly, following the demise of its franchise partner Comair, BA does not offer local flights within South Africa. BA does have an interline agreement with AirLink and South African Airways.

London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing – 25 July 2022

Welcome to London Air Travel’s weekly briefing on air travel around the world, as published every Monday at 06:00 BST.

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Picture of British Airways Boeing 777-300 Aircraft on the ground at London Heathrow. — British Airways Boeing 777-300 Aircraft London Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)

Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 25 July 2022.

BA Starts Work On Its Winter Schedules

We’re starting to get a picture of BA’s winter schedules as it is running schedule updates for London Heathrow.

Headlines include Sydney being upgraded to a Boeing 777-300, as before the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no sign of BA’s A380 returning to Singapore yet, but it should revert to twice daily.

A number of routes are subject to frequency reductions including Los Angeles, New Orleans and Seattle. Planned frequency increases on routes such as Dubai and Mumbai are postponed.

Some changes are only applied to the start of season. It is not immediately clear whether rolling cancellations will continue throughout the winter or there’ll be a schedule BA knows it can stick to. The latter is crucial for passenger confidence.

Full details of known changes are here which is continually updated.

On a related note, last week American Airlines said Boeing may resume 787 deliveries as soon as August. On the flip side, Heathrow painted a pessimistic picture of ground staff recruitment which seems to barely keeping up with staff attrition.

Travel To London’s Airports During July Rail Strikes

Travel to London’s airports by rail will be disrupted on Wednesday 27 & Saturday 30 July 2022 due to strike action.

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Picture of Elizabeth Line roundel at platform level, London Paddington station. — Elizabeth Line Platform, London Paddington Station (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

Rail services to London airports will be subject to disruption due to strike action by members of the RMT on Wednesday 27 July and members of ASLEF on Saturday 30 July.

As different unions are taking strike action, the impact will be different on each day. It is also different from the strike action that took place in June.

Full guidance is available from Network Rail and Transport for London. Online journey planners are being updated with the latest changes.

Alternative forms of transport will be busy. Advance planning is recommended.