BA longhaul W2019/20+ – new A350s & 787s – new routes, changes & opportunities

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Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 89 total)

  • Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=934116]

    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.[/quote]

    Thankfully we have a vanishingly small number of posts being reported (the last one was in March), and this was clearly a mistake since the Report and Quote buttons are next to one another.

    I have unreported it, as I do several times a week when people make a similar error (I did it myself in trying to Quote you just now).

    And yes, it would be wonderful if we could shuffle the buttons around so it didn’t happen. I will ask for the cost, and then set up a Donate page…


    SimonS1
    Participant

    [quote quote=934033]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.[/quote]

    Your post really highlights the challenges for BA.

    Panama and Surinam, I would be astonished if there was enough demand for these to be profitable.

    Day time JNB, I gather was unattractive to high margin business travellers who prefer overnight flights.

    Comair alliance?? There already is one and has been for years. Rwandair is not a bad shout though now that BA has thrown in the towel on most of East and Central Africa.

    I doubt Manchester generates enough point to point traffic for long haul. Few airlines have more than 1 hub, and BA prefers to channel through LHR. Plus the ME3 all offer alternatives to long haul destinations going East.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Thanks Tom for rectifying that ‘report’ which I assume was a mistake unless someone misguided soul took offence, as suggested, at my use of the word ‘ethnic’ which has been a perfectly acceptable term until the overzealous PC brigade began blighting our lives with their sanctimonious nonsense.

    AMS-PMB is a perfect example of a route which carries ethnic traffic, i.e friends and families of Surinaams people living in NL, and vv.

    On the other matter you raised, possibly in jest, I can only speak for myself, but I would be very happy to support this useful and interesting forum with an annual fee (I already subscribe to the magazine). It may be that others would also be willing to do this and this might fund some of the enhancements that people ask for.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    SenatorGold
    Participant

    [quote quote=934296] @senatorgold – Georgetown used to be a regular BA (BOAC) route via Barbados back in the days of the VC-10’s ie the sixties[/quote]

    Indeed it was. Thank you. Not only that, but I have a BA timetable from December 1976 which shows that they were serving Georgetown with a B707 via Port of Spain and Barbados from LHR.

    In the entrance to the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, you’ll a plaque commemorating its opening in 1969. It bears BOAC’s Speedbird marque as it was a BOAC hotel at that time.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    MarkivJ
    Participant

    A350 to TLV and BLR!


    tomwjsimpson
    Participant

    [quote quote=934969]A350 to TLV and BLR![/quote]

    I suspect the A350 has been put onto TLV as a direct response to VS starting services there?!


    rferguson
    Participant

    Kiev and St Petersburg are both getting the chop altogether from OCT.


    SenatorGold
    Participant

    [quote quote=935075]Kiev and St Petersburg are both getting the chop altogether from OCT.[/quote]

    That’s sad news.


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    [quote quote=934978]I suspect the A350 has been put onto TLV as a direct response to VS starting services there?![/quote]

    That’s what I think too.

    This route carries a fair amount of sixth-freedom passengers. Deploying its A350 means BA can show off its newest product both to point-to-point travellers and those making connections at LHR.


    ConstantFlyer
    Participant

    @sparkyflyer You seem remarkably well informed in your ‘guesswork’. Are you sure you don’t work in the BA Route Development Team?!?

    2 users thanked author for this post.

    AFlyingDutchman
    Participant

    I used to live in St. Pete and used the BA flight regularly. It was always full, and with fares quite high, I am surprised by this decision. Perhaps it is due to S7 not having any real connecting options out of LED, but this flight will be sorely missed. Kiev as well is a surprise as the flights were always at a high premium, priced in hard currency, and the two times I flew them Club was absolutely full. I understand Hotels are running 35% to 40% occupancies annually in Kiev (due to lack of Russian business) so times are hard for sure, but surprised they cut the route completely.


    DavidSmith2
    Participant

    I would agree with JohnnyG on the potential for a regular Freetown flight. However I would share his concerns about including it with Monrovia at the current tine (I am unsighted on the viability of Abidjan). Monrovia is politically fragile at the moment and the perceptions of corruption is that it is increasing, not decreasing. More importantly though, the airport lacks the basic requirements I imagine BA would require. No x-raying of check-in bags (you have to attend a rudimentary physical inspection) and regular lack of equipment to scan carry on bags and persons.

    That, combined with the very basic facilities at Roberts International generally would not make it an attractive route. The airlines which do fly there on multi-stop routes (Kenyan, Asky, AWA) rely on considerable single-leg ticket sales (e.g. Accra-Monrovia or MOnrovia-Freetown) to fill their planes. Something which I do not think BA would be keen to support, in that environment.


    bluemooner
    Participant

    [quote quote=932708]’m sure that BA could fill a daily (or even double daily) 787-8 between Manchester & New York. However, in order for a second, significant national hub to be viable, (spare aircraft, engineering, crew, ground staff….) BA would probably need to offer at least 6 or 7 long-haul destinations from Manchester and that is where things become problematic.[/quote]

    Manchester to
    New York
    Chicago
    Los Angeles
    Miami
    Sydney/Melbourne
    Johannesburg/Cape Town
    Mumbai

    There’s 7 places that should work.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    There is no way BA would be able to generate plane loads of people from Manchester to the likes of Chicago, Johannesburg and Sydney. The demand isn’t there and other carriers have this sewn up.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    To add to the above, of course they could fill aircraft out of MAN to those places, but at rock bottom loss making revenues, as they would have to undercut a dozen other carriers, and they’re not a charity, least of all with Penny Pinching Alex in charge.

Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 89 total)
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