Tag: Aviation

British Airways’ Boeing 787 to fly from London Heathrow to Montreal from Sunday 29 March 2015

British Airways has announced that Montreal is to join its network of Boeing 787 routes from Sunday 29 March 2015.

Biosphere, Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal, Canada
The Biosphere, Parc Jean Drapeau, Ile St Helene, Montreal

Montreal will be the third Canadian city to be served by the Boeing 787, after Toronto and Calgary.

BA’s single daily flight from London Heathrow to Montreal (BA 95 and the return BA 94) will be operated by the 787, replacing a Boeing 777 in the summer season and a Boeing 767 in the winter season.

In terms of capacity, the change from a 777 to a 787 in the summer season will result in 13 fewer Club World business class seats and 49 fewer World Traveller economy seats on each flight.

Other current BA 787 routes include Austin (to be replaced by a Boeing 777), Chennai, Chengdu, and New York Newark.

Air Canada also flies to Montreal from London Heathrow. Air Transat also flies to Montreal and London Gatwick.

British Airways’ Airbus A380 completes its inaugural flight from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles Airport

British Airways completed its inaugural Airbus A380 flight from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles airport today, as flight BA217 arrived in Washington early this afternoon.

The launch of A380 services also coincides with the opening of a new “Galleries” lounge for business and first class passengers in Washington.

Washington is the 2nd US city to be served by BA’s A380. San Francisco will be the next US city. BA also flies the A380 to Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Johannesburg. The A380 will also fly to Singapore from the end of this month.

Here are pictures of the A380 arriving at Washington:

Embed from Getty Images

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British Airways launches new summer 2015 seasonal routes from London Heathrow to Olbia (Sardinia), Kos and Corfu (Greece) and Split (Croatia)

The summer seasonal route is now a regular fixture of BA’s summer timetable at London Heathrow.

Last year, BA operated summer seasonal routes from London Heathrow to Faro, Ibiza, Malaga, Mykonos, Palma, Porto and Santorini. These routes return next summer.

Also launching next summer are new routes from London Heathrow to Olbia in Sardinia (twice weekly), Kos (twice weekly) and Corfu (four times weekly) and Split in Croatia (twice weekly).

Flights operate between 1 May 2015 and 20 September 2015 and are on sale now. Note that flight times vary by time of day, so check timetables carefully before booking.

These routes are complemented by summer seasonal routes from London Gatwick to Seville, Funchal in Madeira and Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.

British Airways launches new routes from London Gatwick to Seville in Spain, Funchal in Madeira and Las Palmas in Gran Canaria

In a further sign of renewed confidence in its London Gatwick operation, British Airways has added three new routes to its 2015 Gatwick schedule.

These are Seville in Spain (five weekly) Funchal in Madeira (thrice weekly) and Las Palmas in Gran Canaria (twice weekly) which will operate from 29 March 2015.

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Will British Airways move its “Executive Club” frequent flyer programme from a mileage to a revenue based model?

We’ve seen speculation online recently (much of it completely unfounded it has to be said) regarding whether British Airways will follow other airlines (such as Delta) in changing its frequent flyer programme whereby points/miles are awarded solely by reference to the absolute amount of money spent with the airline, rather than the distance flown on eligible flights.

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British Airways News: New Washington Lounge, Special Meals, Terminal 3 Bussing

A quick wrap up of some recent BA related developments:

1. After some six and a half years, the use of bus gates for passengers travelling on short-haul flights from Terminal 3 should have now largely come to an end. All short-haul flights should ordinarily be boarded from a gate with a jetty attached.

2. BA is due to open a new lounge at Washington Dulles airport on Friday 26 September. The refurbished facility extends to 10,000 square feet. Passengers travelling in first flass will have access to a waiter service diner area and private bar. All eligible passengers will also be able to enjoy a deli style dining area, a deli bar, rain showers, a business suite. BA also promises power points at almost every seat in the lounge. The new lounge launches in advance of A380 operations at the airport starting on 2 October.

3. BA has withdrawn four special meals with effect from 1 October. These are fruit platter, bland meal, jain meal and seafood meal. Any existing bookings will be honoured.

Air France Pilots’ industrial action continues into week beginning 22 September

Last week, Air France flights were significantly disrupted by industrial action by Air France pilots.

The industrial action was due to end tomorrow, Monday, 22 September. However, the latest news is that industrial action will continue until Friday 26 September.

The essence of the dispute are plans by Air France’s parent company, Air France KLM, to expand its low cost Transavia unit (as summarised by the Financial Times.)

As of Sunday evening, cancellations have been loaded for Monday 22 September and Tuesday 23 September on the London Heathrow – Paris Charles de Gaulle route and real time flight departure & arrival information is available on the Air France website.

Air France has also provided specific guidance on cancellation and rebooking options on its website.

Air France London Heathrow – Charles de Gaulle flights disrupted by airline industrial action

Air France pilots are currently engaged in a week long strike, due to end on Monday 22 September. The strike has caused significant disruption to Air France operations, including London Heathrow – Paris Charles de Gaulle flights.

Embed from Getty Images

Today, Monday 15 September, four out of eight departures from London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle we cancelled.

On Tuesday 16 September, all departures from London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle have been cancelled.

On Wednesday 17 September, four out of eight departures from London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle have been cancelled (this has now increased to six as of Tuesday evening).

No flights on Thursday 18 September are currently showing as cancelled. This is likely to change over the coming days (Five out of eight flights are cancelled as of Tuesday evening, now increased to seven as of Wednesday evening).

No flights on Friday 19 September are currently showing as cancelled. (Six out of eight flights are now cancelled as of Wednesday evening.)

Air France has provided specific guidance on cancellation and rebooking options on its website.

In addition, real time flight departure & arrival information is also available on the Air France website.

San Francisco is the next route to be served by British Airways’ Airbus A380

British Airways has today confirmed that its next new route for the Airbus A380 will be San Francisco.

This is the sixth BA destination to be served by the A380.

From April 2015, the A380 will operate on one of BA’s twice daily flights between London Heathrow and San Francisco, five days a week.

The A380 will operate as BA287 & BA286 to/from San Francisco to London on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The same flight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will continue to be operated by a Boeing 747, as will the second daily service, BA 285 & BA284.

BA currently operates the A380 on selected flights between London Heathrow and Hong Kong, Johannesburg, and Los Angeles. The A380 is also due to fly to Washington from 2 October and Singapore from Thursday 28 October.

British Airways launches new route from London City to Hamburg from 27 October 2014

British Airways’ expansion at London City airport continues with the launch of a twice daily service (excluding weekends) from the airport to Hamburg in Germany from 27 October 2014.

The route will be operated for BA by its Scandinavian franchise partner SUN-AIR using a single cabin (so no Club Europe business class) Dornier 328 Turboprop commuter aircraft.

Here is the planned timetable:

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