Tag: Travel

British Airways to launch a new direct route from London Heathrow to Austin, Texas with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

British Airways has today confirmed that it will launch a new direct route from London Heathrow to Austin, Texas from Monday 3 March 2014 (just in time for the SXSW festival!).

The route will initially operate five weekly (not Wednesday and Saturday) until 5 May 2014 when it will operate daily. The precise flight times depend on the day of operation until the flight goes daily.

Austin is one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. The announcement is significant in not only providing London with a direct route to Austin, but also this is the first new route to be launched that will be operated with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Although BA has made much of how the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will open up new routes to Asia, this announcement does demonstrate how much potential there is in BA’s traditionally strong transatlantic market.

The route announcement also follows a trend of BA launching new transatlantic routes to US cities where it is either the sole operator of the route to London Heathrow, and in some cases, Europe. This may provide some clues as to which new US cities will announced next.

Flights are now on sale on ba.com

British Airways’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner is now flying between London and Toronto

British Airways completed its first long-haul passenger flight on the Boeing 787 yesterday when BA93 departed London Heathrow for Toronto Pearson airport. The flight landed at approximately 2:55pm local time and departed for London the same evening around 7:20pm as flight BA94.

Video of the Boeing 787 landing at Toronto Pearson airport and taxing the gate as well as interior shots and an interview with BA’s airport manager are available in this video footage prepared for broadcast media.

Flights to Newark on the Boeing 787 start on 1 October 2013. British Airways has yet to announce which destination will be served by the Boeing 787 route. However, it is likely to be another transatlantic route currently served by a Boeing 767 (possibly Philadelphia or Washington Dulles).

British Airways upbeat on performance of London-Sydney route whilst Qantas is yet to show impact of Emirates partnership

Qantas published its annual results for the year ended 30 June 2013 last week. The airline posted a modest net profit of AUD$6 million after tax, which was a significant improvement over last year’s loss of AUD$206 million. This was primarily due a reduction in losses at Qantas’ International division, which prompted a significant reduction in capacity to Europe and the jettisoning of Qantas’ partnership with BA in favour of Emirates, by almost half to AUD$246 million.

Whilst the partnership between Emirates and Qantas is still very much in its infancy, it is curious that Qantas seems to have declined to give any clear revenue guidance on the partnership. In its results it gave only vague operational measures such as “2 times increase in codeshare bookings on EK network” and “3 times increase in EK bookings on Qantas Domestic network” compared to the partnership with British Airways and others. It is hard to draw any conclusions from such claims without seeing the detail behind the headlines.

Meanwhile, British Airways has remained upbeat on the performance of its last remaining Australian route, London-Singapore-Sydney.

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Singapore Airlines launches a new advertising campaign “The Lengths We Go To”

Singapore Airlines has launched a new TV advertising campaign with three new advertisements under theme of “The Lengths We Go To”.

The advertisements seek to differentiate Singapore Airlines, which is facing very strong competition on price and route network from the Middle Eastern carriers, on the basis of its culture of service and attention to detail in product design. As is consistent with previous Singapore Airlines advertising, “Singapore Girl” features prominently.

“Understanding Your Needs”

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Members of Qatar Airways “Privilege Club” can earn frequent flyer miles on British Airways from Monday 2 September

Qatar Airways has today announced that members of its frequent flyer “Privilege Club” can earn frequent flyer miles when flying on British Airways from Monday 2 September.

Member of the Privilege Club will also be able to redeem their frequent flyer miles on British Airways flights from 1 October 2013.

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British Airways increases frequencies from London Gatwick to Punta Cana, Antigua, Kingston, St Lucia, and Orlando

Some good news for British Airways passengers at London Gatwick airport. The airline has announced that, from the start of the Summer 2014 season on 30 March 2014, it will increase the frequency of flights on the following routes:

Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) increases from 2 to 3 flights a week
Antigua increases from 5 to 6 flights a week
Kingston increases from 3 to 4 flights a week
St Lucia increases from 6 to 7 flights a week
Orlando increases from 10 to 13 flights a week

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International Airlines Group orders up to 120 Airbus A320 aircraft for Vueling

International Airlines Group (IAG) has today confirmed that it has secured both firm orders and options for up to 220 Airbus A320 short haul aircraft for its subsidiary airlines British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.

Up to 120 of these aircraft are designated for its short-haul low cost carrier subsidiary Vueling. The new aircraft will enable Vueling to replace some of its existing aircraft and expand its network.

The Vueling order comprises 62 firm orders which include 30 A320ceo and 32 A320neo aircraft and options for a further 58 aircraft. The firm orders will be delivered to Vueling between 2015 and 2020.

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Rebooking options for British Airways passengers booked to fly London – Nairobi

Following the fire at Nairobi airport in Kenya yesterday, British Airways has provided details of the options available to passengers whose flights to Nairobi have been cancelled, or are booked to fly to Nairobi over the next few days.

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British Airways suspends London Gatwick – Tunis route from 27 October 2013

British Airways has announced it is to suspend its thrice weekly London Gatwick – Tunis route from 27 October 2013. No reason has been given for the cancellation, but unsatisfactory commercial performance is a likely reason and the route suspension is an indication of the ongoing commercial pressures BA faces in the short-haul market at Gatwick.

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British Airways adds Johannesburg to its network of Airbus A380 destinations

British Airways has today confirmed that Johannesburg will join Hong Kong and Los Angeles in its network of destinations served by the Airbus A380.

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