London Air Travel

Loganair Launches London City – Dundee

Loganair has transferred its service to Dundee from London Stansted to City airport with effect from Sunday 29 March 2020.

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V&A Dundee, Scotland. (Image Credit: HuftonCrow)

Loganair has transferred its route from London Stansted to Dundee to London City Airport.

Currently, Loganair flies from London Stansted to Dundee up to twice daily. From Sunday 29 March 2020, this route will transfer to London City airport.

Flights will operate 11 times weekly, with twice daily return flights from Monday to Friday and a daily return flight on Sunday.

Flights will be operated with a 48 seat ATR42-500 aircraft. All passengers on Loganair benefit from a complimentary checked luggage allowance, as well as complimentary refreshments on board the aircraft.

This route is a “Public Service Obligation” route which receives Government funding in order to maintain connectivity from regions of the UK to London and to also support domestic tourism. The Government confirmed in October of this year that the route would continue to receive Government support in 2020.

This is also not the first time an airline has flown from London City to Dundee. CityJet used to serve this route, before suspending it many years ago.

Flights should are on sale now at Loganair.

British Airways Launches London City – San Sebastián

British Airways has launched a new summer seasonal route from London City to San Sebastian.

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La Concha Bay, Monte Igueldo, San Sebastián (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has launched a new summer seasonal route from London City Airport to San Sebastián in the Basque Country region of Spain.

BA will fly from London City to San Sebastián twice weekly on Monday & Friday from Friday 10 July 2020 to Friday 4 September 2020.

Flights will be operated with Embraer E190 aircraft in a two class Club Europe business class and Euro Traveller economy configuration.

This will be the only direct service to San Sebastián from London. BA already serves San Sebastián indirectly through an onward codeshare from Madrid on Air Nostrum. It is of course possible to mix and match London airports, albeit with an element of backtracking. Bilbao airport (served by BA from Gatwick) is also around 100km from San Sebastián.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com

London City – San Sebastián

Flight BA7335 Depart London City 09:15 – Arrive San Sebastián 12:10 (Monday)
Flight BA7335 Depart London City 09:10 – Arrive San Sebastián 12:10 (Friday)

Flight BA7334 Depart San Sebastián 13:30 – Arrive London City 14:25 (Monday, Friday)

British Airways Launches London Heathrow – Portland

British Airways has launched a new route from London Heathrow to Portland, Oregon.

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British Airways has launched a new long-haul route from London Heathrow to Portland, Oregon.

BA will fly from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Portland International Airport five times weekly from Monday 1 June 2020. Flights will not operate on Tuesday and Thursday.

Flights will be operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft in a three class configuration with Club World business class, World Traveller Plus premium economy and World Traveller economy cabins.

Known for its environmental consciousness and independent spirit, Portland is of course close to other BA North American gateways Seattle and Vancouver, and it is possible to “mix and match” arrival and departure airports in North America. BA also codeshares with Alaska Airlines from Portland to a number of airports on the US West Coast.

This is a relatively unusual route choice for BA in that Portland is already served on a summer seasonal basis by Delta. BA has historically launched new transatlantic routes from London Heathrow to airports that do not have any transatlantic services to London.

Flights are on sale now on ba.com

London Heathrow – Portland

Flight BA299 Depart London Heathrow 15:05 Arrive Portland International Airport 16:55 (Daily, except Tuesday & Thursday)
Flight BA298 Depart Portland International Airport 18:45 – Arrive London Heathrow 12:10 (Daily, except Tuesday & Thursday)

Update

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 which has resulted in the near complete suspension of BA flights, the launch of this route has been suspended indefinitely.

London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update – 18 December 2019

A weekly bulletin on transatlantic travel, published every Wednesday at 06:00 GMT.

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Manhattan at Sunrise (Image Credit: London Air Travel)

Hello and welcome to the The Atlantic Update providing a weekly bulletin on developments on transatlantic travel between Europe and North America.

This is the last edition of The Atlantic Update for 2019. It will return at 06:00 GMT on Wednesday 15 January 2020.

Here’s what to expect from the two main transatlantic joint businesses in London in 2020:

American Airlines & BA

American Airlines & BA will mark 10 years of their transatlantic joint business in early 2020.

In terms of routes, American Airlines will reinstate a daily flight from London Heathrow to Boston from Sunday 29 March 2020.

There has been surprisingly little news from BA as far as its long-haul plans are concerned for 2020.

The commitments American and BA gave to EU & US regulators to secure regulatory approval for the joint business will expire in 2020. The UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation in to the joint-venture in anticipation of the UK’s departure from the European Union. This appears to be taking considerably longer than was first anticipated.

American & BA have the benefit of having already secured regulatory approval for their joint business. They can also say with some justification that it has helped expand considerably London’s transatlantic route network. However, given the tough approach the CMA has adopted in other cases, further concessions for regulators can not be ruled out.

Regulatory approval for Aer Lingus to join the joint business is also still forthcoming.

Delta & Virgin Atlantic

Delta and Virgin Atlantic will form a combined Europe-North America transatlantic joint-venture with Air France-KLM in early 2020.

Delta will also return to London Gatwick flying to Boston from Friday 22 May 2020 and Virgin Atlantic will reinstate Gatwick – New York JFK from Thursday 21 May 2020..

Delta will continue to roll out its refurbished Boeing 767-400 aircraft to transatlantic routes from Heathrow such as Detroit, Minneapolis and Portland. Virgin Atlantic will also add its new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to New York JFK and Los Angeles.

British Airways & China Southern To Launch Joint-Business

British Airways and China Southern Airlines are to launch a joint business in respect of flights between the UK and mainland China.

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British Airways and China Southern Airlines have announced plans to launch a joint business in respect of flights between the UK and mainland China.

Currently, BA and China Southern Airlines have a limited codeshare relationship with BA placing its code on China Southern Airlines operated flights from Shanghai when connecting to/from BA operated flights between London and Shanghai. China Southern Airlines also places its code on a number of BA short-haul flights from London Heathrow.

Under the joint-business the two airlines will offer full codesharing on each other’s routes between London and mainland China. They will also offer reciprocal benefits to each other’s frequent flyers.

Currently, BA flies from London Heathrow to Beijing Daxing and Shanghai airports. China Southern Airlines flies from London Heathrow Terminal 4 to Guangzhou, Sanya, Zhengzhou, and Wuhan.

The expanded codeshare relationship will take effect from Thursday 2 January 2020 and flights are on sale from today, Tuesday 17 December 2019. The two airlines are expected to explore further co-operation in 2020.

For BA, this does substantially improve its coverage of mainland China where it has been relatively weak compared to other European network airlines, partly due to the lack of a local alliance partner.

BA does also have a local codeshare relationship with China Eastern Airlines which does not appear to be disturbed by this news.

British Airways Pilots Accept Pay Offer

British Airways pilots have accepted a new pay offer, bringing a long-running industrial dispute to an end.

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British Airways Pilots pictured with the Red Arrows — British Airways Pilots (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways pilots have accepted a revised pay offer negotiated between the airline and the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA).

This does bring to an end a long running dispute which has resulted in two days of industrial action and cast a shadow over BA’s centenary year.

BALPA has issued the following statement:

A ballot of British Airways pilots closed today following the dispute over pay and terms and conditions.
Members of the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) employed by BA voted nearly 9 to 1 to accept the final agreement which was proposed by ACAS and recommended by BALPA and its BA reps.

London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing – 16 December 2019

Welcome to our weekly briefing on air travel in London and around the world, as published every Monday at 06:00 GMT.

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Concorde and Santa Claus, Rovaniemi, Finland, 1997. Photo by Eric Chretien/Gamma-Rapho published under license from Getty Images. Unauthorised distribution and reproduction prohibited.

Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 16 December 2019. This is our last edition for 2019. The Monday Briefing will return on Monday 13 January 2020.

This big Christmas getaway starts this weekend. It’s somewhat customary for there to be some form of transport snarl-up in the UK in the run up to the Christmas, whether it be snow, fog, or rogue drones. At the risk of speaking too sign, weather conditions in London are looking relatively benign for this year.

Whilst the political climate in the UK remains febrile, there is at least some certainty to for the year ahead. The UK is now certain to leave the European Union in 2020. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised a radical transformational domestic policy agenda. Of course, so did Theresa May on becoming Prime Minister, before being all consumed by the Brexit process. As much as all sides of the debate would like it to be otherwise, the UK’s departure from the European Union is nowhere near complete.

Whilst Boris Johnson has been an advocate and dreamer of many grand projets, he is no advocate of a third runway at London Heathrow and has expressed doubts about HS2. There was deep frustration during Theresa May’s regime that business was simply not being listened to and many will be lobbying for investment in transport infrastructure. Boris Johnson is well skilled in the art of telling his audience what they want to hear, but whether he can implement anything is another matter.

BA Summer 2020 Schedule

Last week, we had the first significant official announcement of BA’s summer 2020 schedule, with six new seasonal routes at London Heathrow.

Further short-haul route announcements are expected. There’s been little by way of news as far as long-haul routes are concerned. Though with delivery of new Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 787-10 aircraft next year, as well as the refurbishment of Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 aircraft, there will be at least a significant reallocation of aircraft on routes next year.

In case you missed it:

Qantas is one step closer to launching non-stop flights from London to Sydney having selected the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, albeit without a firm order yet. The only significant barrier are negotiations with the Australian and International Pilots Association.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has form on playing hardball with trade unions. There are tensions at JetStar with industrial action taking place this week. This has been called by the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots and Transport Workers Union.

Qantas Selects Airbus A350 For Non-Stop Sydney Flights

Qantas has selected the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft for non-stop flights from London Heathrow to Eastern Australia. However, Qantas has yet to place a firm order for aircraft.

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Qantas Project Sunrise (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)

Qantas has announced it has selected the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft for non-stop “Project Sunrise” flights from London Heathrow to Sydney and other cities in Eastern Australia.

However, Qantas has yet to place a firm order for aircraft.

Following tenders from Airbus and Boeing for Airbus A350 and Boeing 777X aircraft respectively, Qantas selected the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft. The aircraft uses the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine. Qantas has advised that Airbus will add an additional fuel tank and slightly increase the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft.

Qantas has agreed with Airbus to extend the deadline to confirm delivery slots for aircraft up to March 2020.

Qantas has indicated that it will order up to 12 aircraft which will enter service from the first half of 2023, if Project Sunrise is ultimately given the go ahead by the Qantas Board.

CGI of Airbus A350-1000 aircraft in Qantas livery (Image Credit: Qantas)

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority in Australia has given Qantas provisional approval to operate ultra long-haul flights.

The last remaining issue appears to be the negotiation of an industrial agreement with the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA). There are still some differences between Qantas and the AIPA, particularly around productivity and efficiency.

Qantas has confirmed that the fleet of ultra long-haul aircraft will feature newly designed First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins.

Qantas has also previously indicated that potential ultra long-haul routes from London include Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Qantas has slots at Heathrow to operate four long-haul services a day, two of which are currently leased to BA.

Other potential ultra long-haul routes cited by Qantas include Sydney to Cape Town, New York and Rio de Janeiro.

British Airways’ New London Heathrow Seasonal Routes

BA has launched new summer seasonal routes from London Heathrow to Bodrum, Dalaman, Perugia, Podgrica, Pristina and Rhodes.

London Air Travel » Page 46

British Airways has launched a string of new summer seasonal short-haul routes from London Heathrow.

BA will fly from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Pristina, Kosovo on Saturdays from 4 July 2020 to 29 August 2020.

BA will fly from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Podgorica, Montenegro on Saturdays from 4 July 2020 to 29 August 2020.

BA will fly from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Perugia, Italy on Monday, Thursday and Saturdays from Thursday 2 July 2020 to Monday 31 August 2020.

BA will fly from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to both Bodrum and Dalaman, Turkey on Saturday from 23 May 2020 to 24 October 2020. BA already flies to Dalaman from Gatwick and has previously flown to Bodrum from Gatwick. BA has also previously announced a new summer seasonal route from London Gatwick to Antalya.

BA will also fly from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Rhodes, Greece, complementing its existing service from London Gatwick. BA will also fly from London Gatwick to Corfu twice weekly from 1 May 2020 to 23 October 2020. This will complement BA’s existing summer seasonal service from Heathrow.

Flights will be operated with Airbus A320 aircraft in a two class configuration with Club Europe business class and Euro Traveller configuration.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com

Here are the timings of the new Heathrow flights. Note there are differences between the official BA press release and BA’s online timetables. The times below are based on BA’s online timetables at the time of publication.

Also note that as these are new summer seasonal routes, the operating dates may be subject to change depending on their commercial performance.

London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update – 11 December 2019

A weekly bulletin on transatlantic travel, published every Wednesday at 06:00 GMT.

London Air Travel » Page 46

Pool Club, Virgin Hotels Dallas (Image Credit: Virgin Hotels)

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.

Virgin Hotels Does Dallas

Virgin Hotels opens its third property in the US, after Chicago and San Francisco, this week.

Virgin Hotels Dallas opens this coming Sunday, 15 December 2019.

The newly constructed hotel features 200 “Chambers” including Grand Chamber Suites, along with Virgin Hotels’ signature Commons Club, as well as a rooftop Pool Club.

Other Virgin Hotels earmarked for opening in 2020 include Las Vegas, Nashville and New York.

BA Upgrades Heathrow – San Jose To Boeing 747

It’s been relatively quiet as far as news on BA’s long schedule for the summer 2020 season is concerned.

One significant change announced so far is that London Heathrow – San Jose will be upgraded from a Boeing 787-9 aircraft to a Boeing 747 aircraft from the start of the summer season on Sunday 29 March 2019.

This is a fairly substantial increase in capacity from 216 seats to 275 seats.

Also of note this week:

American Airlines has announced new domestic routes from Boston to Austin and San Jose from early April 2019. American is also promising more one-off flights such as Los Angeles – Palm Springs for special events. (American Airlines)

Virgin Trains USA launches a new train livery featuring the work of the late New York artist Keith Haring to mark the opening of the Rubell Museum in Miami. (Virgin)

The case for a high speed rail line from Portland to Vancouver. (CityLab)

Late post publication updates:

[Reserved for updates throughout the day]

London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update is published every Wednesday at 06:00 GMT. If you have any comments, suggestions or tips then please drop us a line at mail [@] londonairtravel.com

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