Tag: Air Travel

British Airways turns up the pressure on CityJet with expansion at London City airport

British Airways has often been criticised in the past for failing to prove it can compete with rival airlines outside its base at London Heathrow, where it now commands nearly 50% of take off and landing slots. Witness how the airline withdrew entirely from regional point to point operations five years ago and, as reported yesterday, has ceded a significant share of traffic at London Gatwick to easyJet.

The one exception to this is at London City. Some five years ago CityJet, an airline with a complex history and structure, but now under the ownership of Air France KLM, dominated short-haul operations at the airport, with more than twice the share of take off and landing slots as British Airways.

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US Airways & American Airlines’ planned merger: What does this mean at London Heathrow?

American Airlines & US Airways are, after much speculation and uncertainty over regulatory approval (and significant concessions over slots at US airports), expected to merge.

As the two airlines have large domestic networks in the US much of the coverage has naturally focused on the impact in the US. However, the merger does have implications for travellers in London, particularly frequent flyers of British Airways and Oneworld which is what I focus on in this post.

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British Airways launches new summer seasonal routes from London Heathrow to Faro, Malaga, Mykonos, Porto and Santorini

Over the past few years, British Airways has operated summer seasonal weekend flights from its London Heathrow base to European holiday destinations. Initially, these were charter flights for holiday companies and last year BA launched seasonal weekly flights to Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca. Both of these two destinations are to return to Heathrow next summer.

The use of Heathrow slots for summer seasonal flights ramps up a gear next summer as BA launches twice weekly flights to Faro (also operated from Gatwick), Malaga (also operated from Gatwick and London City), Mykonos, Porto and Santorini.

Flights to Oporto, Faro and Malaga operate from 30 March 2014. Flights to Mykonos operate from 3 May 2014 and flights to Santorini operate from 4 May 2014.

Although it may seem unusual BA is launching these routes from its main hub at Heathrow, instead of Gatwick which has served as BA’s main base for leisure flights over the past years, there is a logic in using Heathrow slots for such flights at weekends when business routes are relatively quiet. No doubt these routes are also supported by bookings from tour operators.

Flights can be booked now on ba.com.

Virgin Atlantic & Delta to operate a joint London Heathrow – New York “shuttle” service from 30 March 2014

Following the grant of anti-trust immunity by the US Department of Transportation, Virgin Atlantic and Delta have today confirmed they will co-ordinate their schedules to operate a nine times daily shuttle service on the London Heathrow – New York (Newark & JFK) route from 30 March 2014.

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Virgin Atlantic CEO Craig Kreeger describes performance of “Little Red” as “progressing satisfactorily” but with “room to grow”

It’s been over four months since Virgin Atlantic launched its short-haul operation from London Heathrow to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester and, so far, we have only anecdotal evidence to rely on to judge the performance of these routes.

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