[transtraxman]

Should not this thread be renamed? After all we are in spring 2016 and from now on anything referring to the title should be in the past tense.

[sparkyflier]

Transtraxman I was wondering the same, and I started the discussion! Maybe I can do another one, but it seems to still be generating interest and discussion! Although when I see a new post I think, a new route to Brazzaville, Abidjan or Recife is on the horizon, only to read about Denmarks’s 3rd city…;-/

[Jasonltd1]

Fear not. Another LH route due to be announced within the next week

[sparkyflier]

Any clues James72…BA seem to be having a reshuffle with changes to their Gulf network..

[StephenLondon]

I would guess it’ll be BA’s longest route to date. These new 787s are winners at long flights / premium loads / fuel efficiency, and with IAG’s mix, I can see something south and west on the horizon…way, way, way out on the horizon.

[sparkyflier]

Suspense, suspense..

[sparkyflier]

Honolulu/Santiago…?

[TheLion]

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! One destination could conceivably be a weekly St Vincent service from Gatwick. The new Argyll International Airport is finally about to open later this year and the authorities have been keen to attract BA or Virgin to build their tourist industry. And I think there might be a day or two’s slack in the 12th 777 which has just arrived at Gatwick ????

[sparkyflier]

Welcome back TheLion!

St Vincent is highly plausible, but surely a tag to BGI/TOB etc?

[TheLion]

haha thanks sparkyflyer! I’ve been lurking, reading regularly, but keep forgetting to comment! On St Vincent I’m too optimistic aren’t I, knowing how cautious BA are….from “World’s Favourite…” to “World’s Most Cautious” in little more than a decade.

For LGW’s next long haul standalone route not named St Vincent I’m going for 2-3 weekly Havana. The other European airlines are launching routes and expanding rapidly there. BA BA Black Sheep love following their shepherds, so this route makes sense!

For a new Heathrow route, far South West sounds about right…Santiago de Chile come on down! Rationale? Panama City has full or even overcapacity, Bogota has competition and Colombia’s economy is slowing; Caracas & Brasilia are out for obvious reasons.

I’ll chuck in Nashville or Portland as a US option, plus Durban or Freeetown as an African destino. For Asia I’d only give you Osaka, given the fact that Manila, Taipei, Jakarta, Hanoi & Saigon all have competition.

However I’d love them to open up the centre of India and serve Lucknow…large catchment area, lots of industry, Kanpur next door too, Varanasi, near Himalayas. And minimal ME3 competition…

[FCTraveller]

Eastern Canada – Halifax or St Johns, it’s a short flight and can be served with a smaller aircraft. Though I agree it’s wishful thinking!

[rferguson]

I think SCL makes SO much sense. And with the scale back of operations to Brazil after the olympics it may be a good time to re-jig the LATAM network.

[Fernieside94]

Totally agree new 787/789,s should be used for regional long haul (although EDI-NYC is pretty well served ) but avoiding LHR should be a priority for BA as capacity is overstretched at the best of times & until new runway & slots are available use the 787/9’s to their best advantage.
Another option would be to streamline ops at LHR/T5 so that the misery of connections there could be avoided, after all they allow passengers on, for example EDI but seem to treat them on a connection at T5 as if they has just walked off the street, forcing them to be rescrutinised by security etc, there should be no reason for this as they (the fare paying passenger) has not been out of BA care since leaving EDI (or any connection airport) before they have to go through the agony of a connection in T5 – look at other hub airports where connections are SO much easier.
All could be solved by reinstating some regional long haul services (&introducing more) there are not the same slot constraints at MAN/EDI/BHX/GLA etc of course an even cheaper option might be to change to name to LONDON AIRWAYS !

[dutchyankee]

@Avaya123, BA is just like AF or LH or KL so should they therefore be called Paris Air, Frankfurt or Munich Air, or Air Amsterdam? London is where the greatest revenue and profit is, and as a private company, that is their job. BA serve the regions with connections through LHR and LGW and even LCY. I agree the connections in T5 can be very time consuming and have often wondered why they cant learn from the superb efficiency and speed one experiences at Zurich, where connections are a breeze.

@TheLion, I agree that a route to Santiago makes the world of sense, as does Durban with it’s new airport begging for a direct flight to Europe. In the US, Portland would make sense as a wealthy catchment area and lots of businesses there, but not a great hub for AA connectivity. Nashville would be interesting, and AA has a good presence there as it previously was a hub for them like Raleigh, which would also be a good option. AA flies LHR to CLT twice a day, and all the flights I have done have been completely full, maybe a third operated by BA would work. I don’t think Honolulu would be viable, but I’m not sure how appealing it is as a destination to Europeans so have no idea. How long would that flight be nonstop? I think St. Vincent is a given as they did do so much work on the new airport, it seems quite logical but as Sparky says, likely an add on to one of their flights in the area already. A return to Havana seems very likely. So lots to think about, just a shame BA is as so many have said, very very cautious to the point of always being the last to the party!

[FDOS_UK]

dutchyankee – 13/05/2016 07:35 BST

To be fair to KLM, the Netherlands has a very small footprint and cannot be compared to the UK, Germany and France.

AF has international flights from two major hubs (north and south), LH has two major hubs (north and south) – both also operate international flights from regional airports, via subsidiaries.

BA operates international flights from London (I’m not including the Sunair franchised flights, which are typically underwritten by companies such as Siemens and thus not true scheduled flights.)

So Avaya123’s point is fair – I wonder whether BA would be better rebranding, as London Airways would be a very strong brand.

[Author]

Posts