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.
Tag: Air Travel
BA’s business class dilemma: How and when to introduce direct aisle access for all seats in Club World?
It was some fifteen years ago in May 1999 that British Airways shook up the market for long-haul business class travel with the launch of its fully flat Club World “flying bed”. Designed by Tangerine, it was arguably the singlest biggest innovation since the original introduction of business class (which Qantas claims credit for.)
Embed from Getty ImagesVirgin Atlantic’s late summer/autumn worldwide sale – Book by 23 September 2014
Virgin Atlantic has today launched a sale across its worldwide network for bookings made by 23 September 2014.
The sale applies to all three of Virgin Atlantic’s cabins, economy, premium economy, and Upper Class and to destinations from both London Gatwick and London Heathrow.
Not all cabins are available on sale for every destination. There are a number of exclusions from premium economy (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco for example). There are no published sale fares for US destinations in Upper Class.
New York is available in economy from £399 on limited flights and days of the week. Boston and Miami are available from £459. Chicago and Los Angeles are available from £479.
Also, travel dates vary by destination and cabin. In most cases, fares are on sale for travel up to either March or June 2015, with a pre-Christmas travel blackout.
There’s more on the Virgin Atlantic website.
BA is likely to follow suit shortly and BA’s fares can be compared using the BA Low Price Finder.
Edited: Please note that since the launch of this sale Virgin Atlantic has announced the suspension of Tokyo and Mumbai from 31 January 2014 and the permanent closure of seasonal routes to Vancouver and Cape Town from 11 October 2014 and 26 April 2015. There’s more information here.
British Airways’ long farewell to the Boeing 747-400 jumbo
BA is retiring the Boeing 747-400. However, it will still have a presence at London Heathrow for many years to come.
On 11 August 2014, flight BA78 arrived at London Heathrow from Accra in Ghana. For the aircraft operating the route, a Boeing 747-400 (registration G-BNLI), this was its last passenger flight after more than 24 years’ service at the airline (Source: The BA Source.)
G-BNLI is the 11th 747 to be withdrawn from service at BA. This marks a continuation of a process that started some five years ago.
The 747s were initially withdrawn in response to the financial crisis, but more recently to be replaced by more efficient Boeing 777-300s and Airbus A380s which have seen the BA 747 removed from routes such as London Heathrow to Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Sydney.
Continue reading “British Airways’ long farewell to the Boeing 747-400 jumbo”
Etihad to acquire five London Heathrow airport slot pairs from Alitalia
After a long period of negotiation, Etihad has finally announced a deal to acquire a 49% stake (the maximum allowed under EU ownership rules) in troubled European airline Alitalia.
Full details of the transaction can be viewed here.
Continue reading “Etihad to acquire five London Heathrow airport slot pairs from Alitalia”
British Airways to show Sky Sports “Soccer AM” and Premier League highlights on board long-haul aircraft
British Airways to show Sky Sports’ popular weekly Soccer AM on some of its long-haul flights from 19 August 2014.
The airline will also show weekly highlights of Premier League games from the 2014/2015 season of the Barclays Premier League.
British Airways to move to São Paulo Guarulhos Terminal 3 on Thursday 7 August 2014
British Airways will move its daily flights from London Heathrow to São Paulo Guarulhos airport from Terminal 1 to the new Guarulhos Terminal 3 from Thursday 7 August 2014.
BA currently flies daily to São Paulo and will increase its flights to ten weekly from early September.
BA will share the terminal with its IAG sibling Iberia. Eligible passengers will be able to use a third party VIP lounge until a dedicated Oneworld lounge opens.
On a related note, we are expecting BA to announce a codeshare relationship with its relatively new alliance partner TAM airlines, but nothing has been forthcoming.
Aurigny Air Services launches London City to Guernsey Service from Monday 8 September 2014
Aurigny Air Services launches a direct flight from London City airport to Guernsey from Monday 8 September 2014.
The service will operate five times weekly, with flights departing London City to Guernsey every weekday at 09:15 and flights returning from Guernsey at 15:10.
The flight will initially be operated by a wet leased Fokker 50 aircraft until the airline secures appropriate aircraft for the route.
Aurigny Air Services also flies several times a day to London Gatwick and daily to London Stansted. Blue Islands also flies from London City to Guernsey via Jersey.
London Heathrow – Tripoli flights cancelled indefinitely
The Foreign Office is currently advising against all travel to Libya and encourages Britons in the country to leave.
This is in response to a high threat to foreign nationals from terrorist incidents such as kidnappings. BBC News is currently reporting on a fire at a fuel storage facility in Tripoli.
In response to the Foreign Office advice, British Airways has cancelled its daily flight to Tripoli until Tuesday 5 August at the earliest indefinitely.
Passengers booked to travel to Tripoli are offered a refund or travel to alternative gateway within 300 mile radius of Tripoli, or Cairo.
More details are on BA’s trade website.
Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Initial seat plans & product information published.
Virgin Atlantic is readying for the launch of its inaugural Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight from London Heathrow to Boston on 28 October 2014.
Embed from Getty ImagesSir Richard Branson pictured in a mock-up of the Boeing 787, some seven years ago.
The airline has published a microsite detailing its plans.