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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.
Continue reading “Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Initial seat plans published”
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Following recent events in the Middle East, both US and a large number of European airlines had suspended flights to Tel Aviv on the basis of advice from regulators in the US and Europe.
The Federal Aviation Administration in the US and the European Aviation Safety Agency have subsequently changed their guidance.
British Airways continues to fly to Tel Aviv twice daily from London Heathrow. easyJet has resumed flights from London Luton and London Gatwick to Tel Aviv.
BA is allowing passengers booked to fly to Tel Aviv up to 25 July 2014 to rebook on any flight up to 7 August 2014. No refunds are available.
easyJet was also offering passengers the opportunity to rebook that but this seems to have been withdrawn.
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British Airways is to move its weekly service to Providenciales International Airport in the Turks and Caicos Islands from London Heathrow to Gatwick with effect from 29 March 2015.
The route is currently served by a weekly Boeing 767 service via Nassau in The Bahamas. When it moves to London Gatwick it will operate via Antigua, on a Boeing 777-200.
The timetable is:
Flight BA2157 Depart London Gatwick 10:45 Arrive Antigua 14:10
Flight BA2157 Depart Antigua 15:10 Arrive Providenciales 17:05
Flight BA2156 Depart Providenciales 18:35 Arrive Antigua 20:30
Flight BA2156 Depart Antigua 21:40 – Arrive 10:30 (next day)
We’re not sure what was prompted the move. It may simply be a more effective use of capacity. BA will continue to offer three classes of service (World Traveller Economy, World Traveller Plus Premium Economy and Club World Business Class) on the route.
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Cape Town has long been a popular leisure destination for UK holidaymakers, particularly in the winter months of the northern hemisphere.
BA currently serves the city ten times weekly during the UK summer season and twice daily during the UK winter season.
BA will now be adding a third daily flight for just nine days between 2 January and 11 January 2015 to meet high demand in the New Year.
These flights are:
Flight BA 45 Depart London Heathrow 16:30 – Arrive Cape Town 06:05 (first flight 2 January, last flight 10 January)
Flight BA 44 Depart Cape Town 09:15 – Arrive London Heathrow 19:00 (first flight 3 January, last flight 11 January)
It’s also worth noting that first class will be available on these extra flights. During the winter season, flights BA 43 and BA 42 will operate without first class.
Flights are on sale now at ba.com
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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.
This follows a firm order for Airbus aircraft for BA’s IAG sibling, Vueling, in August of last year.
These aircraft will be delivered from 2018 and will, ostensibly, be used to replace existing BA short-haul aircraft.
Continue reading “BA’s parent IAG orders 20 Airbus A320neo aircraft”
London Air Travel » London Heathrow »
Here’s a quick update on recent terminal moves at London Heathrow:
1. Heathrow has a new resident in the form of Avianca. The airline is now flying from London Heathrow to Bogota in Columbia four times a week.
Flight AV121 departs from London Heathrow every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 22:35.
Flight AV120 arrives at London Heathrow from Bogota every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 14:40 (16:05 on Saturdays).
2. Aer Lingus has now moved all of its flights to Ireland from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2.
3. US Airways has moved its daily flights to Charlotte and Philadelphia from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 to co-locate with its merger partner American Airlines and fellow Oneworld alliance members.
4. British Airways has moved check-in zones at Terminal 3. BA now uses Zone D, instead of Zone G. This is a temporary measure until February 2015.
Thai Airways and Turkish Airlines’ moves from London Heathrow Terminal 3 to 2 has been delayed from 2 July 2014 until 28 August 2014
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Things 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 and Turkish Airlines moves from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 tomorrow (2 July 2014) has been postponed until Thursday 28 August 2014.
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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 AA733 departs Heathrow at 14:25 and arrives in Charlotte at 18:20
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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.
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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.