BA and the Far East

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    NewBAexec
    Participant

    After speaking to management, it seems like British Airways is very interested in expanding their Far Eastern network due to economic growth and since route expansion at LHR is very limited due to slot restrictions (third runway declined), they are looking in expanding at LGW with slots being offered.
    But apparently one of the reasons why there is a delay in announcing the new routes is because their cabin crew based at LGW have restricted duty hours which is part of their memorandum of agreement, which obviously Willie is looking into increasing to 15hrs (currently 12hrs – I stand to be corrected) to allow them to perform long range flights.
    Bassa, as we all know, is very against it and it really all depends on whether the crew are willing to have their MOA altered without Union supporting the change.


    kellner
    Participant

    I’ll believe it when I see it…. If BA really wants to expand to the far east it can quite easily by transferring a couple of short haul routes to LGW freeing up slots for more longhaul out of LHR. To grab a share of the market why in the world would BA wait for a MOA to be amended to operate further longhaul from LGW……doesn’t make much sense….seems another thread started to do a little BASSA bashing…. this forum is becoming increasingly tired………..


    NewBAexec
    Participant

    With all due respect, to you it might not make much sense, but it does to other people. As far as I know it is actually the “crew” taking the flights out so if they can’t get the “crew” to do the flights, who will….so obviously it has a lot to play.
    Maybe you should take a break from this thread.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    The exLHR option is only really sensible if connecting traffic is involved.

    The exLGW option makes absolute sense for point to point routes. And these are especially well suited for Leisure routes, and BA is increasingly targetting the Premium Leisure market.

    BASSA’s militant tendency doesn’t have much support at LGW (viz. 100% flights running during strike) and I wouldn’t be surprised if the more pragmatic and business-minded crews at LGW don’t agree to an extension, subject to appropriate additional payments as compensation.

    So I would not be surprised to see an Eastern longhaul route exLGW from BA in the near future; Phuket and Ceylon are the most likely.

    I wonder whether they will offer connecting flights from MAD to LGW to build on the IB merger?


    kellner
    Participant

    As I have stated, if BA wants to expand to the far east as you claim, they can easily from LHR. Slot restraints do not hamper carriers like BA who hold approx 40% and can transfer flights to free up slots to start new routes or increase flights to certain destinations. You have started a thread which is directing a little more bashing to a union that has enough coverage on this forum.


    Hippocampus
    Participant

    If BA wanted to start new Far East routes from LHR (which will be the case for any business traffic routes), I would think they’d do so with New Fleet who will not have any restrictive practices – they will work to the CAA rules.

    For leisure routes from LGW, they could ask for crew to volunteer to operate the flights which is what I believed happened with LCY-JFK when the unions were insisting that crew have a night-stop after the LCY-SNN leg.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    I think volunteering would be a perfect solution for longer leisure flights from LGW.

    Kuala Lumpur has been a glaring omission on the BA destination list for some time. I would also imagine that Mixed Fleet will be given some brand new routes to start up exLHR, which would previously not have been economical.

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