British Airways is not normally an airline to announce aircraft orders at aviation shows.
However, to co-incide with the launch of Farnborough Air Show, BA’s parent company, International Airlines Group (“IAG”), announced that it has converted 20 of 100 options to buy Airbus A320neo aircraft into firm orders.
Virgin Atlantic officially launched its new Vivienne Westwood uniform collection for Virgin Atlantic pilots, cabin crew and ground staff at the Village Underground in London on 1 July.
The uniforms have been “road tested” by Virgin Atlantic staff for some months and feature sharp cuts and a tailored British look that is particularly flattering to slimmer frames.
The event featured a public appearance by Sir Richard Branson, Vivienne Westwood and a performance by Blondie.
Guests included Tallulah Harlech, Laura Bailey, Jade Parfitt, Mary Charteris, Kelis, Jasmine Guiness, and Matt Smith.
Embed from Getty ImagesThings had appeared to be going well with the opening of Heathrow’s new Terminal 2 with United Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, and ANA now ensconced in the terminal and no sign of a repeat of the disastrous opening of Terminal 5 in 2008.
However, gremlins seem to have emerged.
There was a baggage system failure affecting passengers at Terminal 2 last week. For reasons we don’t entirely understand Terminal 2 is using Terminal 1’s baggage system.
And we don’t know if this is connected, but there have been very well publicised intermittent problems with the baggage system at Terminal 5 caused by software issues over the past few days.
To allow further testing of the baggage system, Thai Airways Turkish Airlines’ moves from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 tomorrow (2 July 2014) has been postponed until Thursday 28 August.
Continue reading “Thai Airways & Turkish Airlines delay move to London Heathrow Terminal 2 until 28 August”
American Airlines is to add a second daily London Heathrow – Charlotte flight, reports the Charlotte Observer.
This was a route inherited from American Airlines’ merger partner, US Airways, which has operated on a daily basis.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the 2nd flight will launch on 13 September 2014. The second flight is not yet on sale. It is a reasonable assumption that the flight will be operating using a slot pair sold by Cyprus Airways.
The addition of this flight means it is unlikely that American’s transatlantic business partner British Airways is to launch its own direct service to Charlotte.
Update:
The 2nd flight is now on sale. Flight 733 departs Heathrow at 2.25pm and arrives in Charlotte at 6.20pm.
In recent months, there has been a flurry of activity by Europe’s legacy airlines in respect of their short-haul operations.
Traditionally, these airlines (British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa etc) have operated a business model of broadly making all of their profits on long-haul flights whilst losing money on short-haul flights.
Losses on short-haul flights have historically been tolerated on the basis they provide connecting passengers to support long-haul operations.
However, the maturing of low cost carriers such as easyJet into credible rivals for lucrative business passengers has put pressure on short-haul revenues. Furthermore, the intensity of competition from Middle Eastern airlines has reduced the profits on long-haul against which losses on short-haul operations can be offset.
Lufthansa is in the process of transferring short-haul flights that do not serve is Frankfurt and Munich hubs to Germanwings. British Airways has undertaken a number of revenue-raising measures such as short notice day-tripper and weekender flights and seasonal flights during quiet business travel periods.
The next phase of activity from BA is a complete reconfiguration of almost all of its Airbus short-haul aircraft.
For passengers travelling in the economy EuroTraveller cabin, the changes are broadly positive. For passengers travelling in the business class Club Euroe cabin the picture is more mixed.
Here are the main changes:
1. New ergonomically designed, slimmer leather seats with moveable armrests and a 4-way moveable headrest.
2. New literature pockets that can also hold the sleeve of an iPad for passengers who want to bring their own in-flight entertainment.
3. In Club Europe, a new central table feature called the ‘Centre console’ will be positioned in the middle seat that is traditionally kept free.
4. The aircraft will also be fitted with new curtains, carpets and wall coverings and a LED lighting system and “refreshed” washrooms.
The big downside is that leg room in Club Europe will be reduced from 34 inches to 30 inches. However, BA claims that this will not impact significantly on “usable” space due to the design of the seats which allow for more knee room.
The effect of the reduction in leg room and other changes is that the overall number of seats will increase on each aircraft. On an Airbus 319 aircraft BA will provide 143 seats instead of 132 seats. On an Airbus 320 aircraft will provide 168 seats instead of 162 seats. On an Airbus 321 aircraft will provide 205 seats instead of 188 seats
The first refurbished aircraft will enter into service on 4 July of this year and the rollout is expected to be completed by next year.
The Boeing 767s that operate in a short-haul configuration and the Boeing 737s that operate at Gatwick are not being reconfigured as they are both shortly being retired from the fleet.
Update December 2014: BA has announced that First Class will return to Vancouver from Sunday 29 March 2015 and Cape Town, Las Vegas and Phoenix from Sunday 25 October 2015. More details here
Many readers will know that, over the past five years, British Airways has been progressively updating its four class Boeing 777 and 747 aircraft with a new first class product.
The roll out on Boeing 777 aircraft has long been complete. Out of BA’s fleet of nearly fifty Boeing 747 aircraft, less than ten do not have the latest first class product. These aircraft are left with the Kelly Hoppen designed interior from the year 2000.
It is no exaggeration to say these cabins are showing their age and, in response, BA has by default offered 50,000 Avios to members of the Executive Club frequent flyer programme as compensation.
With number of 747s in BA’s fleet expected to fall to approximately thirty by 2018 and the last 747 due to retire after 2020, many of those aircraft that do not have the new first class cabin are likely to be retired over the coming year.
BA has now decided to stop selling first class on these aircraft and will instead offer a three class service, with business class passengers seated in the first class cabin (who will receive the standard “Club World” service) if there is the demand.
As Virgin Atlantic celebrates its thirtieth anniversary later this month, here are more images from the airline’s history.
In the third part of our series, we take a look at the some of the airline’s aircraft past and present:
Cyprus Airways is to withdraw from London Heathrow airport from 13 September 2014 after the airline sold its pair of departure and arrival slots to American Airlines for some $31 million.
As Virgin Atlantic celebrates its thirtieth anniversary later this month, here are more images from the airline’s history.
Whilst Virgin Atlantic’s route network is relatively small compared to its major rivals, when it does launch a route, the airline can never be accused of not making an entrance:
Embed from Getty ImagesVirgin Atlantic celebrates its thirtieth anniversary later this month.
On 22 June 1984, flight VS1 departed London Gatwick for Newark airport, operated by a Boeing 747-200 aircraft bearing the name “Maiden Voyager”. The airline has grown significantly since then. It now flies to approximately thirty destinations worldwide, principally from London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports.
Whilst Virgin has struggled in recent years with the airline losing money for four of the past five years and it suspending a number of routes (Accra, Nairobi, Sydney), it remains one of aviation’s most iconic brands, marketing itself with a confidence and flair that few can match, and is known for punching well above its weight in terms of its profile in the industry.
Flight VS1 still operates to Newark today, but from London Heathrow which is now the airline’s principal base for flights to North America. New York continues to be one of Virgin Atlantic’s most important routes with the airline operating a combined six flights a day (nine if you add Delta codeshares) to Newark and New York JFK airports combined.
Here is the first of a collection of images from Virgin Atlantic’s 30 year history, starting with the launch of the airline in 1984 and its inaugural flight: