[rferguson]

I think Tehran very soon.

[sparkyflier]

That is where my money is, and the route could be operational very quickly as the demand is there. But are the crew rest facilities in Tehran sufficient?

I wonder if it might need a stop which I mentioned before..maybe Baku, or …. bring back Yerevan…

[sparkyflier]

Or how about Tel Aviv for some neighbourhood relationship building 🙂

[MarkivJ]

Well done BA!! I’m sure this will be a rocking success, much like Austin and San Diego. And no, this won’t cannabalise their SF flights at all. SF is one of the more interesting US destinations where you hae a healthy mix of tourist, business and resident travellers. So I don’t think BA should even think of dropping frequency or capacity on the SFO route.

South Bay is home to tons of software industries (aka loads of Chinese and Indians). So assuming Indians would use this route, the only gripe I have is that the timings aren’t friendly with the connecting flights to India. That said, there are loads of European software techies in the South Bay right now (amongst other nations – Iranians, etc.) so BA will have no issues filling up this flight.

[MarkivJ]

Although for personal reasons, I wish they’d used those slots to make Seattle double daily (right now it’s 10 flights a wk) or a daily service to Portland!

[AisleSeatTraveller]

great news for London

Indian techies on the way between Silicon Valley and Bangalore can stop off to see their bankers / financiers in the city (or their wealth managers)

or the execs on the way to Silicon Glen can transfer to Glasgow or Edinburgh

[MarkivJ]

LOL, I’m from Bengaluru myself (I fly SEA – BLR on BA) but I think the SJC flight lands like less than an hour before the BLR departure (or, depending on the season, narrowly misses it).

[AisleSeatTraveller]

MarkivJ, have a day in London en-route shopping . doing other biz (or hope against hope that your SJC flight is early, never a good strategy)

[MarkivJ]

Good idea! I love London and visit twice a year and is by far my favourite city in the world. Jokes aside though – people who hold an Indian passport need to have a UK tourist visa if leaving the airport (applying for that in the US itself is a long process). Those Indians that live in or are travelling to the US or Canada via the UK (and aren’t Permanent residents of either country, or don’t have a valid visa stamp) need to obtain a DATV (Direct Air Transit Visa). It’s quite a hassle which explains why folks from the sub continent pick Germany, Middle East and the Far East as transit points.

[rferguson]

@ sparkflyer totally agree. I know Tehran was already on the radar – the thawing of political relations and the reopening of the British embassy there last week will see things progress. Iran has a massive population and will be a huge market. Perfect for a 787! In terms of BA slipping its crew there, well there are always ways around that if need be. For example the only reason the LHR – Freetown route continued into Montovia was to allow the crew a safe place to slip. During some periods BA has continued to operate to say Lagos, Abuja or Nairobi without slipping crew there by positioning a crew in each direction. In Abuja now we stay in lockdown at a very secure hotel with less than thirty rooms in total!

I think we will see more U.S. Cities in addition to Austin and San Jose. Reason being not just because the demand is there but because of the virtual guarantee of a decent profit. The city governments bend over backwards to accommodate airlines willing to fly from their airports. For example, Baltimore. The Maryland state government guarantees BA that it will over twelve months make a profit on the route. And if it doesn’t, the city will reimburse whatever amount BA loses on the route. I’d imagine they have similar set ups with other small US cities. In other words, they are virtually risk free. Saying that, apparently the Maryland govt has never had to make a payment to BA as the route has always been in profit.

I doubt Hanoi or Santiago would offer the same guarantees!

[MarkivJ]

rferguson nails it once again! Yes, that’s the advantage of the US market.

Whilst this is a bit off-topic (and I’d asked this question earlier) – how is it that BA flies only once daily to DFW? Granted, AA has 3 (or 4) flights to LHR but seeing Dallas’ position as a oneworld hub, I thought BA would want to have more flights to DFW (even if it meant AA reducing frequencies assuming oneworld had a ceiling on the # of flights between DFW and LHR).

[AndrewinHK]

BA have taken over AA frequencies from LHR to Boston and AA have taken more of the frequencies at DFW. Part of the joint venture will allow for maximum aircraft utilization and lowering of staff, fuel costs etc. AA covers Manchester and Edinburgh secondary and non hub for BA, in turn BA covers Austin, Baltimore, San Diego now San Jose, imho it’s a good strategy. BA has 4 daily flights to Texas, 2 into Houston, 1 to DFW and 1 to Austin combined with AA’s 3 DFW flights it gives the joint venture the lead in Texas to London traffic, with a good geographical spread of destinations in the state, better for leisure and more importantly business passenger choice.

[AndrewinHK]

BA increases LHR service, boosting Seattle to 12 weekly and Las Vegas from 7 to 10 weekly

[sparkyflier]

Wow amc1234, re Vegas, have those 3 new LHR flights meant that the LGW flights have been dropped?

[AMcWhirter]

As rferguson correctly notes “Iran has a massive population and will be a huge market.”

Well BA (and the other European carriers) will have to get in there quickly because the Gulfies have already arrived.

Emirates, for example, operates four daily flights with B777-300ER into Tehran and recently trialled an A380 service.

Currently there are few long-haul flights out of Iran. So travellers needing global connections simply choose to route via one of the Gulf hubs.

[Author]

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