[LHR_Fan]

LHR-NAS-GCM is a stopping service.

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BackOfThePlane

[JollyFlyer]

Long Haul
I think for the foreseeable future BA will look towards North America for their expansion plans flying direct to secondary cities which currently do not have any direct connections to the UK or EU.
East bound many destinations that are not served by BA are bookable via ba.com with QR (Qatar Airways) on a codeshare basis via Doha this will probably slow BA’s expansion towards the far east. There could well be some opportunities for mid haul routes to the old soviet republics in eastern europe and central asia as these economies grow and they begin to open up to western companies and tourism.
I’d like to see some of the African routes reopened but they obviously are not forecasted to produce the kind of returns that North America destinations will. I’d imagine that BA will start a route to Casablanca in advance of AT (Royal Air Maroc) joining Oneworld. This should lead to an opening of routes to destinations in Central and West Africa.
In South America BA must be looking at Brasilia, Bogota for business travel and their onward connections.
From LGW I could see Havana being added to their Caribbean route network as a leisure destination.

Short Haul
There is a gap in BA’s network in the Balkan republics I can see new routes to either Sarajevo, Skopje or Belgrade coming along in the next 18 months. The only other Oneworld airline to serve these destinations is QR.

[SenatorGold]

[quote quote=932742]Long Haul

I think for the foreseeable future BA will look towards North America for their expansion plans flying direct to secondary cities which currently do not have any direct connections to the UK or EU.

East bound many destinations that are not served by BA are bookable via ba.com with QR (Qatar Airways) on a codeshare basis via Doha this will probably slow BA’s expansion towards the far east. There could well be some opportunities for mid haul routes to the old soviet republics in eastern europe and central asia as these economies grow and they begin to open up to western companies and tourism.

I’d like to see some of the African routes reopened but they obviously are not forecasted to produce the kind of returns that North America destinations will. I’d imagine that BA will start a route to Casablanca in advance of AT (Royal Air Maroc) joining Oneworld. This should lead to an opening of routes to destinations in Central and West Africa.

In South America BA must be looking at Brasilia, Bogota for business travel and their onward connections.

From LGW I could see Havana being added to their Caribbean route network as a leisure destination.

BA used to serve Havana from LGW some years ago.

Short Haul

There is a gap in BA’s network in the Balkan republics I can see new routes to either Sarajevo, Skopje or Belgrade coming along in the next 18 months. The only other Oneworld airline to serve these destinations is QR.[/quote]

BA has served all these three destinations: Belgrade from LHR until about 9 to 10 years ago. Perhaps they might return although Air Serbia has increased its frequencies to LHR. They served Sarajevo from 2007 until 2008 from LGW. It probably didn’t work as there may be more transfer traffic from Sarajevo and LGW wouldn’t have offered the range of connections e.g. to US. They served Skopje until about 2002 (I think) -can’t remember whether it was from LHR or LGW.

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JollyFlyer

[transtraxman]

To fly from Manchester BA needs feeder routes. There might be enough demand from the north to set up a network both East and West but the feeder network makes it much more solid and worthwhile. Since it sold BA Connect to FlyBe that opportunity has been lost. Now that FlyBe has been taken over to be turned into Virgin Atlantic(short-haul) then one would assume the beneficiary is Virgin Atlantic long-haul which will now be able to build on a more solid base out of Manchester.The quantity of ME3 daily seats gives us an indication of the demand.

[SenatorGold]

Re flights to the former Soviet Republics, BA used to have cities in these destinations well covered through BMED. At various times they served Almaty, Bishkek, Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan and even at one point (although not for very long) Tashkent and Ashgabad. BMED used to fly A321s on these routes with the old Club World cradle seats.

I used to fly them fairly regularly and they were a good option especially to the Caucacus compared say to Austrian who operated Airbuses with seats in the ordinary business/economy configuration.

Then BMI bought BMED and operated some of these routes. With BMI’s demise BA returned to Almaty (with a B767), and Baku but not for very long. It would be interesting to see if they would be tempted to return. However, all these destinations are well covered by Turkish.

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=932961]Now that FlyBe has been taken over to be turned into Virgin Atlantic(short-haul) then one would assume the beneficiary is Virgin Atlantic long-haul which will now be able to build on a more solid base out of Manchester.[/quote]

It’s a pity that BA gave up MAN-JFK some years ago allowing VS to get established.

As transtraxman notes we can expect more Flybe services to MAN (from other UK regions) to feed the growing VS network.

[MarkivJ]

I can’t think of too many places in Asia or the Indian sub continent given that most of them are covered by the ME3, CX, SQ and now the new set of Chinese carriers expanding into London. maybe a Nagoya or another Japanese city, but that might cannibalise their oneworld sister finnair.

Whilst NA is always a gold mine, there is over capacity as it is, and easy for other airlines to catch up with competitive offers. So my suggestion is – they either start new services in S America and W Africa or expand existing capacity/frequency to build a stronger presence in cities that love them and the have a strong brand (for instance – 10x to Austin vs current daily, or 2x daily to Seattle instead of the current NS12/NW10, etc.) as the flights always fly full anyway.

[MarkivJ]

And yes, I am aware of the LHR constraints but BA could consider changing arrival
Times (or adding new flights) to the 3 S Indian cities for an early morning arrival into LHR that will offer more connections to NA. Currently,All 3 S Indian flights land Around 2pm.

[miningguy]

My wish list – clearly a bit biased to where I end up going on business 🙂

– Bogota (if Lima is viable, this route surely is)
– Panama City
– Bring back the day flight from Jo’burg (due to be dropped in a few weeks time to free up the aircraft for India, I would assume that this route is lucrative still esp with the ongoing problems at SAA)
– Tblisi/Yerevan again – Wizz air can manage this…
– If Africa really isn’t commercially attractive to BA, then some form of alliance with one of the African airlines (Rwandair?) or Comair(?) for bookings would be exceptional.

As a bit of fun, I would also love BA taking one of their Caribbean flights onto Suriname. Where? Its a small country on the tip of South America. One of the most forested countries in the world, it is just incredible for anyone wanting to get a real tropics experience.

Finally….Long haul from Manchester returning. I remain just baffled as to how a selection of long haul routes are just not viable from the North. If there were more frequent shuttles to LHR this would be bearable. But today (for example), I am sat at MAN and there is a 1500 and 2000 departure to LHR.

[Citiflyer]

[quote quote=934033]

– If Africa really isn’t commercially attractive to BA, then some form of alliance with one of the African airlines (Rwandair?) or Comair(?) for bookings would be exceptional.

[/quote]

I have some exceptional news for you. BA has a huge partnership with Comair. The airline is a franchise partner. It flies in BA colours, staff in BA uniforms. It’s basically BA in South Africa.

[capetonianm]

Bring back the day flight from Jo’burg (due to be dropped in a few weeks time to free up the aircraft for India, I would assume that this route is lucrative still esp with the ongoing problems at SAA)

You might like the day flight, as I do, but the reality is that BA have decided to deploy the aircraft on a route that they perceive to be more profitable. There is overcapacity on the JNB LHR route and a day flight has been proven not to attract high yield traffic, even if they can fill it.

As a bit of fun, I would also love BA taking one of their Caribbean flights onto Suriname. …….. it is just incredible for anyone wanting to get a real tropics experience.

Airlines do not operate flights for fun. It’s not going to produce yields that will satisfy shareholders. Anyway KLM and Surinam Airways dominate that route, and it’s mostly ethnic traffic.

[capetonianm]

capetonianm
Participant

This reply has been reported for inappropriate content.

Really? I trust this is a mistake otherwise has someone taken leave of their senses?

Again, I ask the moderators of this site to oblige people to give a reason and their username when reporting posts for “inappropriate content”, please.

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ASK1945, sparkyflier

[AFlyingDutchman]

@capetonianm, I have no idea why it was tagged as inappropriate either. Perhaps the comment re ‘ethnic’ traffic, which being Dutch, is an absolutely factual statement with regard to flights between Amsterdam and Parimaribo. Nothing wrong with your post from my POV.

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ASK1945, capetonianm, sparkyflier

[AFlyingDutchman]

Great thread Sparky, as usual. I would love to see BA return to Dar es Salaam with their own metal, and use Comair to return to Gaborone. Other ideas would be Jacksonville, Florida, and the already mentioned other US destinations. Here in Europe, I really would like to see BA return to Belgrade, and if they could resurrect the LCY link with Antwerp filling the void left by the VLM collapse. During the week, VLM had 5 return flights each business day, and this along with LCY-RTM was their most profitable routes.

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sparkyflier

[alainboy56]

@SenatorGold – Georgetown used to be a regular BA (BOAC) route via Barbados back in the days of the VC-10’s ie the sixties

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