London Heathrow Terminal 5A (Image Credit: Heathrow)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 3 February 2020.
Storm Ciara has of course caused significant disruption over the weekend and there some residual cancellations this morning.
It is expected to cause disruption over Northern and Central Europe this week (where it’s called Storm Sabine!). Lufthansa has also given warning of very signifiant disruption at Munich airport this morning.
BA has also extended its flexible rebooking policy. Any short-haul passenger due to fly to / from London Gatwick and Heathrow today can rebook up to Thursday 13 February 2020.
South African Airways
South African Airways announced a significant restructuring of its route network last week.
Its route from London Heathrow to Johannesburg has been spared the axe. However, SAA’s restructuring is far from complete. The Business Rescue Practitioners are still to present a business plan for the airline for approval by its creditors.
The entire process is very political. Shortly after the route restructuring was announced the Department of Public Enterprises in South Africa issued a statement to the effect that it will be making representations to the Business Rescue Practitioners. As part of this, it will ask for the route network changes to be reviewed. Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance has called for the airline to be shut down. (SABC News)
It’s noteworthy there appears to have been no comment from Comair who operate the BA franchise in Africa and in which BA currently owns an 11% stake.
Airlines have cancelled flights and are putting in place flexible rebooking policies due to Storm Ciara which is causing disruption to flights at London airports.
London Heathrow Terminal 5A (Image Credit: Heathrow)
Storm Ciara is causing significant disruption across the UK on Sunday 9 February 2020.
The latest weather updates are available from the Met Office. There is disruption to flights at all London airports. Other airports in the UK and mainland Europe may of course also be disrupted.
Winter storm “Sabine” is also expected to cause disruption over Northern and Central Europe until Tuesday 11 February 2020. Lufthansa has advised of very significant disruption, particularly at Munich airport, on Monday 10 February 2020.
As at 19:30 GMT on Saturday 8 February 2020, Heathrow airport has advised airlines to reduce the number of aircraft arrivals & departures from early Sunday morning.
As is always the case at Heathrow, BA’s short-haul operation is taking the brunt of cancellations. There is some residual disruption on Monday 10 February.
Here are links to arrivals and departures pages for London City, Gatwick and Heathrow airports:
Passengers are advised to take advantage of proactive rebooking policies where possible. As this is a fluid situation, these policies may be amended at any time.
Airport Tube & Rail Services
“Do not travel” warnings have been issued for Sunday 9 February by Gatwick Express and Southern Rail who operate rail services to Gatwick airport. A reduced service will operate on these routes due to speed restrictions.
The latest network wide advice is available from National Rail.
British Airways
As at 19:00 GMT on Sunday 9 February 2020, BA has cancelled a very large number of short-haul flights from London Heathrow throughout the day on Sunday 9 February. There are also some long-haul cancellations at Heathrow.
At London City, there is a high number of cancellations. Some short-haul flights have also been cancelled at Gatwick.
BA’s transatlantic joint business partner American Airlines has also cancelled a number of flights.
BA has put in place a flexible rebooking policy for all short-haul passengers due to fly to / from London City on Sunday 9 February and London Gatwick and Heathrow on Sunday 9 and Monday 10 February.
All short-haul passengers can rebook onto alternative BA services (as well as those of Iberia and Finnair) from Monday 10 to Thursday 13 February 2020. It is strongly recommend that you take advantage of this, if possible. If your flight is cancelled you are of course entitled to a full refund.
Passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent.
The latest flight status information is also available on ba.com
If your journey has been disrupted please see this page on ba.com to submit a claim for disruption related expenses.
Flybe
Flybe has implemented a flexible rebooking policy and any passengers due to travel up to Monday 10 February can rebook to an alternative flight, or to an alternative nearby destination up to 7 days ahead.
As at 21:00 GMT on Friday 7 February 2020, KLM has implemented a flexible rebooking policy for all passengers due to fly to / from Amsterdam Schiphol airport from Sunday 9 February to Tuesday 11 February. Passengers can rebook up to Tuesday 18 February 2020.
As at 19:30 GMT on Saturday 8 February 2020, Virgin Atlantic has put in place a flexible rebooking policy for all passengers due to fly with the airline to / from Gatwick and Heathrow on Sunday 9 February 2020 can rebook until Sunday 8 March 2020.
Virgin has also cancelled eight inbound flights to London that were due to arrive on Sunday morning and eight outbound flights that were due to depart from London on Sunday.
Details of these flights and the latest guidance is available from Virgin Atlantic.
South African Airways Airbus A340 Aircraft (Image Credit: South African Airways)
Following the well publicised financial problems of South African Airways (“SAA”), there has been considerable speculation as to whether its international route network would survive the current Business Rescue process.
The Business Rescue process is not yet complete and a new business plan for the airline is due to be presented by the Business Rescue Practitioners for approval by creditors at the end of February 2020.
However, SAA has already announced substantial changes to its route network, citing an urgent need to conserve cash.
International Routes
SAA’s last remaining flight from London Heathrow to Johannesburg has survived the cuts to the airline’s route network.
As have international flights from Johannesburg to Frankfurt, New York JFK, Perth, and Washington Dulles via Accra.
Flights from Johannesburg to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Munich and Sao Paulo have all been suspended from Saturday 29 February 2020.
Regional Routes
Regional routes to be retained include Johannesburg to Blantyre, Dar es Salaam, Harare, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lilongwe, Livingstone, Lusaka, Maputo, Mauritius, Nairobi, Victoria Falls and Windhoek.
Flights from Johannesburg to Abidjan via Accra, Entebbe, Luanda and Ndola have been suspended from 29 February 2020.
Domestic Routes
In terms of domestic routes, frequencies between Johannesburg and Cape Town will be reduced.
All other domestic destinations, including routes from Johannesburg to Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, will be suspended on 29 February 2020. Domestic routes operated by Mango Airlines will not be affected by the changes.
SAA has also undertaken a number of tactical cancellations during February 2020. Whilst the airline has ruled out any further significant network changes, this does not preclude further route suspensions. SAA is also undertaking other measures such as exploring the sale of assets and renegotiating contracts with suppliers.
It will be interesting to see how BA’s franchise partner in South Africa Comair, which has long protested against state support for SAA, responds to these changes.
London Heathrow Terminal 5 Check-In Concourse (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has long offered a “Twilight” check-in facility at London Gatwick airport whereby passengers travelling on flights scheduled to depart before 13:00 can check-in their bags from 16:00 to 22:00 the day before.
We’re not quite sure how new this or whether it is just a trial but, as of Wednesday 5 February 2020, the BA website has advised that Twilight check-in is available at London Heathrow Terminal 5. This is currently available from 18:00 to 22:00 the day before.
It should be noted that you must have passports & travel documentation for all passengers in your booking at check-in for Twilight check-in. Also, your bags cannot be recalled so only use it when you are certain you don’t need your bags until after your flight!
This facility may be withdrawn at any time. It may also be temporarily suspended during periods of operational disruption – in which case it’s probably best not to use it!
BA also currently offers a Twilight check-in facility at Edinburgh airport. This is available daily from 04:00 – 20:00 (04:00 – 18:00 on Saturdays) for flights departing before 09:30 the following day.
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
Hello and welcome to London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update providing a weekly bulletin on developments on transatlantic travel between Europe and North America. The Atlantic Update is published every Wednesday morning at 06:00 GMT.
American Airlines Announces New Codeshare with GOL
American Airlines has made a number of defensive moves following Delta’s acquisition of a 20% stake in LATAM and its planned departure from Oneworld on 30 April 2020.
American has announced a new reciprocal codeshare with the Brazilian airline GOL. This will cover approximately 50 flights from Brasilia, Fortaleza, Manaus, Rio de Janeiro International and Sao Paulo Guarulhos airports. This is subject to regulatory approval in Brazil and the US.
The airline has also sought to defend its position at Miami following a planned increase in capacity by Delta. American is increasing frequencies on a number of US domestic routes to Miami. These include Boston Logan, Houston, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh-Durham and Tampa.
American will also add a second daily flight from Miami to Rio de Janeiro in the peak winter season. This will be operated with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
Norwegian Stays At Gatwick
In December 2019, there was considerable attention given to a preliminary slot allocation report for London Heathrow which indicated that Norwegian had been allocated slots at the airport for the summer 2020 season.
The slots were the equivalent of three weekly return flights and the timings were not particularly attractive. According to a report from One Mile At A Time Norwegian has decided to hand the slots back to Heathrow.
This is not surprising. It is simply wasn’t worth the effort setting up a separate operation at Heathrow for so few flights.
United Adds Sixth Daily Newark Flight
United has leased a daily slot pair from Lufthansa Group to add a sixth daily flight from London Heathrow to Newark for the summer season.
The additional return flight, UA905 departs Heathrow at around 09:00-09:30 and UA904 departs Newark at around 20:00-20:30 depending on the day of the week.
CMA Review of AA/BA Joint Business
Air France-KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic launched their combined transatlantic joint business earlier this week.
The scale of the enlarged joint business will arguably help American Airlines and BA in the Competition & Markets Authority review of their transatlantic joint business.
There was a curious twist last week when the CMA announced that it had declined a request from Virgin Atlantic to issue an interim measures direction order to American. This is presumably in connection with Heathrow slots.
It’s not exactly clear why Virgin would demand this of American when it is the much smaller player at Heathrow. However, it gives an indication of the lobbying underway behind the scenes.
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways will switch its daily flight from London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita airport to Tokyo Haneda airport from Saturday 28 March 2020.
Currently, BA flies to both Tokyo Haneda (Flights BA7 & BA8) and Tokyo Narita (Flights BA5 & BA6) daily. From Saturday 28 March 2020, it will fly to Tokyo Haneda twice daily.
Flights BA5 & BA6 will continue to be operated with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft and the flight timings are broadly the same with an afternoon departure from London Heathrow and Tokyo.
BA has cited better onward connections to its joint business partner Japan Airlines and local transportation links as a reason for the move.
As BA is continuing to serve Tokyo, it is not offering any refunds to affected passengers as a consequence of this move. However, some passengers with onward connections may need to rebook to meet minimum connection times.
Passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent.
Japan Airlines also flies from London Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda twice daily. As a consequence of this change, there will be no direct flights from London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita.
Virgin Atlantic has launched its new transatlantic joint-business with Air France-KLM and Delta.
Virgin has had a transatlantic joint-business with Delta since 2014. It has also had a reciprocal codeshare with Air France-KLM on transatlantic routes since March 2019.
Delta has a long-standing transatlantic joint-business with Air France-KLM and the launch of the new combined joint-business allows all three airline groups to co-ordinate transatlantic routes, schedules and fares between Europe and North America.
A key principle of the joint-business is that it is “metal neutral”. This means all participating airlines much treat each other’s flights equally for selling purposes.
At first, passengers are unlikely to notice too much difference. However, the three airlines have mooted closer co-operation such as co-location at airports which could ultimately see Air France and KLM moving flights into London Heathrow Terminal 3.
The first significant change is that from Thursday 13 February 2020 members of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club will benefit from full reciprocal frequent flyer recognition when flying on the worldwide short and long-haul networks of Air France, Delta and KLM.
Air France-KLM was due to acquire a 31% stake in Virgin Atlantic. However, this has since been abandoned and Virgin Group will retain control of Virgin Atlantic. Virgin may still explore greater co-operation with Air France and KLM on routes outside of North America, where the latter airlines have a substantially greater route network.
Coronavirus (Image Credit: Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 3 February 2020.
Mainland China Flight Suspensions & Travel Restrictions
In the space of a week, the vast majority of the world’s airlines have either suspended entirely, or substantially reduced, scheduled services to mainland China.
Some territories have also banned flights to the broader region outright. Many countries, including Australia, Bahamas, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Trinidad & Tobago, and United States, have imposed immigration restrictions on those that have recently visited China.
In the case of any flight departing for the United States after 22:00 GMT on Sunday 2 February 2020, non-US residents will be denied entry if they have visited mainland China in the past 14 days.
US citizens and residents returning to the US who have visited mainland China in the past 14 days must return via an approved US airport only. These are Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas Fort Worth Detroit, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Newark, New York JFK, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington Dulles. All US bound passengers will be asked to confirm this when checking in and should allow extra time at the airport. Transatlantic airlines have put in place flexible rebooking policies to accommodate passengers who are affected by this measure.
These developments affect not only passengers, but also airlines in terms of rostering crews, which has prompted many to suspended services.
Here is the current status of cancellations at the time of “going to press”. These are all under constant review and can be amended at any time. In all likelihood, airlines that have only suspended services for a short period of time will extend the period of cancellation.
Air France has suspended Paris Charles de Gaulle – Beijing Capital and Shanghai Pudong until Sunday 9 February 2020 and Wuhan until Saturday 29 February 2020.
Air New Zealand has suspended Auckland – Shanghai Pudong until Sunday 29 March 2020.
American Airlines has suspended all flights to mainland China until Friday 27 March 2020.
British Airways has suspended all flights from London Heathrow to Beijing Daxing and Shanghai Pudong International airports until 29 February 2020. A flexible rebooking policy is also in place for passengers due to fly to Hong Kong until 29 February 2020.
Flexible rebooking policies are also in place for passengers who are due to travel to the US and will not meet entry requirements.
Cathay Pacific& Cathay Dragon have reduced the number flights from Hong Kong to mainland China by approximately 50%. Cathay Pacific has also modified the in-flight service on these routes with a reduced meal service and no amenities such as blankets and hot towels in all classes.
Cathay Pacific has also been required to cancel services from Hong Kong to Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino airports until 9 February 2020 due to a ban imposed by Italian authorities on flights from the region.
China Southern Airlines has suspended all flights from London Heathrow to Wuhan following the closure of the airport. Services from London Heathrow to Guangzhou, Sanya, Zhengzhou have continued to operate.
Delta has suspended all flights to mainland China until Thursday 30 April 2020.
Finnair has suspended routes from Helsinki to Beijing Capital and Shanghai Pudong airports from Friday 6 February 2020 to 29 February 2020 and Helsinki to Beijing Daxing, Guangzhou and Nanjing airports from 6 February 2020 to Sunday 29 March 2020.
KLM has suspended routes from Amsterdam Schiphol to Chengdu, Hangzhou & Xiamen until 29 February 2020. Routes from Amsterdam Schiphol to Beijing Capital and Shanghai Pudong airports are suspended until Saturday 8 February 2020.
Lufthansa Group Airlines (Austrian, Lufthansa and SWISS) have suspended all flights to Beijing and Shanghai until 29 February 2020. Flights to Nanjing, Shenyang and Qingdao are suspended until 29 March 2020.
Qantas has brought forward the planned suspension of its service from Sydney to Beijing Capital to 9 February 2020. Its remaining route from Sydney to Shanghai Pudong is suspended from 9 February 2020 to 29 March 2020.
Qatar Airways has suspended all services to mainland China until further notice.
United Airlines has suspended all service to mainland China from 6 February 2020 to 28 March 2020.
Virgin Atlantic has suspended London Heathrow – Shanghai Pudong until Monday 17 February 2020. A flexible rebooking policy is also in place for passengers due to travel to Hong Kong and mainland China until 30 April 2020.
Flybe De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 Aircraft, London City Airport (Image Credit: London City Airport)
Flybe has launched a new route from London City Airport to Luxembourg.
Flights will operate up to three times daily on weekdays and once daily on weekends from Sunday 29 March 2020. Flights will be operated with a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft.
The airline is going head-to-head with Luxair on this route, which has a strong foothold, operating up to six times daily.
Given Flybe is currently negotiating a Government loan on the basis it provides vital regional connectivity within the UK, some of its competitors may wonder why it is now launching such a route.
This means that from Friday 1 May 2020, members of Oneworld alliance frequent flyer programmes will not be able to earn Avios/miles and status credits/tier points when flying on LATAM Airlines under LATAM Airlines flight numbers.
Nor will they be entitled to benefits by virtue of frequent flyer status such as additional baggage allowances, access to priority check-in and boarding facilities and departure lounges when flying on LATAM Airlines.
Passengers will also not be able to access LATAM Airlines lounges when flying business and First Class on other Oneworld alliance member airlines.
This also applies to LATAM Airlines affiliates including LATAM Airlines Argentina, LATAM Airlines Brazil, LATAM Airlines Columbia, LATAM Airlines Ecuador, and LATAM Airlines Peru.
Oneworld has also advised that LATAM Pass frequent flyers will not benefit from reciprocal frequent flyer recognition from Royal Air Maroc when it joins the alliance on Wednesday 1 April 2020.
LATAM Airlines has severed other bilateral arrangements with some Oneworld alliance members. It has ended its codeshare partnership with American Airlines with effect from Friday 31 January 2020.
At present, LATAM’s reciprocal codeshare with BA on London Heathrow – Sao Paulo, and on routes within Latin America remains extant. Whilst LATAM has said it intends to maintain bilateral agreements with other Oneworld alliance members, given Virgin Atlantic is due to launch London Heathrow – Sao Paulo shortly, its codeshare with BA could well end.
For readers who are members of the LATAM Pass frequent flyer programme, a list of Frequently Asked Questions is available from LATAM.
