[SenatorGold]

Interestingly while KLM have returned to Lusaka and Harare (which they served some years previously) BA will have withdrawn London services from both (BA serves Livingstone, Victoria Falls and HRE from JNB using their franchise partner Comair).

Kenya Airways fly twice daily to Lusaka if you can bear to fly through Nairobi.

All the same BA withdrawing from this route is sad. There are some great clips on YouTube of BOAC VC10s serving Lusaka. It was one of the “hot and high” airports for which the VC10 was designed. I know sentimentality has no place in the airline business but this is a route not without history.

[Hippocampus]

A pity about Lusaka being suspended. However, the Austin route announcement is excellent news.

[sparkyflier]

SenatorGold, and after the BOAC VC10s, BCal tookover the route, using 707, A310, DC10, the post BA buyout, DC-10, 747 and then 767.

Austin I think is a great move actually, the Texan economy is very strong, partly due to very oil prices ( around $115 per barrel at mo) , there is lots of demand around there. Remember this will be part of the JV with AA, and there will be lots of AA advantage members in the area.

Dutchyankee ha ha thank you for your tribute. A role like that would be fascinating but BA strategy /route planing might consider my ideas a bit “out there”.

Accra increasing to 10 weekly flights is not surprising post Virgin pulling out. Once the 747s come in, with a huge increase in capacity, I wonder if the second (3 x weekly) flight could be used in conjunction with an Abidjan route. The second flight will be operated by 767.

In West Africa BA should also look at Port Harcourt, maybe in conjuction with booming Cameroon.

The 787 Austin news demonstrated that its introduction to the fleet is not simply, as some posters thought, 1 for 1 replacements for 767s.

Foe once BA may be bold, and I expect more anouncements in the next weeks and couple of months. . .

[FormerlyDoS]

I once again ask the question ‘what is BA’s strategy?’

Where is the coherency across these route changes?

[Bucksnet]

The BA flight to Lusaka is badly timed and therefore gets little or no feed from North America. The KLM flight has much better timings, and if BA followed suit it would get a lot more passengers.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello Everyone

Re: Austin TX

Looking at the broader picture here, this new route keeps BA ahead of its Gulf rivals in the battle for Asia-US passenger traffic.

The Indian media is excited about the new route because it means that nationals can now access Austin with one plane change (in London) rather than two changes ie in the Gulf + a US gateway.

[SimonS1]

The good news for BA is that Austin is one of those places where a transit through the Gulf doesn’t work.

The bad news is there was a piece in the local papers this week that EK plans to double its US network in coming years. So if BA is banking on serious transit traffic from India then it may not last indefinitely, bearing in mind EK also has 10 Indian routes to source from.

http://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/emirates-to-more-than-double-us-destinations-in-the-next-three-to-five-years-1.1225405

@sparkyflyer – “This will really hit the robustly growing Zambian economy, especially on tourism.”

I doubt it. Cutting a 3x a week 767 that isn’t full won’t make a dent. All the business in Zambia is from China, India, South Africa etc and if it was that much of a big deal the flight wouldn’t have to be pulled. Shame that BA can’t make places like Lusaka and Dar pay, but it makes commercial sense to use the slot for something else.

[rferguson]

Good question formerlyDoS.

I’d say it’s strategy in terms of route network is looking like:
Solidifying it’s position as the leader of UK-US flights and flying direct from LHR to ‘secondary’ US cities.
Focusing more on north-west Africa than the ‘former colonies’ such as LUN and DAR.
Dabbling further into Asia – still awaiting the launch of Jakarta despite it being in the crew trip descriptions. Service to Seoul being increased to daily (which was a bit of a surprise considering they are reducing frequencies for periods this winter).

***These are my personal opinions only. Not those of my employer***

[rferguson]

Interesting to see that BA will swap a 767 for an A321 on the LHR-Moscow route as well.

So we will have 1 D 747 (‘new’ Club World), 1 D 767 (‘old’ Club World), 1 A321 (assuming it will be ‘midhaul variant with midhaul CW).

Three daily flights, three CW variants. Thankfully they can still market them all as flat bed in J though.

***These are my personal opinions only, not those of my emplyer***

[SimonS1]

Makes sense rferguson – I see Ghana is upgrading to a 747 and Jeddah to a 777 as well, so BA must be doing OK there.

Which in itself would be interesting as Virgin couldn’t make Accra work.

[rferguson]

I wonder when DOH will be de-linked from BAH.

Surely with QR entering OW BA will want to fly non-stop LHR-DOH. Will be interesting to see how they do it. Reverse the current routing and fly LHR-DOH-BAH-DOH-LHR on a 747 or 777? Make both BAH and DOH non-stop with 787’s? I think something will happen with DOH soon.

[first_class_please]

With QR flying 5-6 times a day London-Doha, BA could be better off not even flying there, but just code sharing with QR.

I certainly hope they don’t do LHR-DOH-BAH as BAH is my main route.

[rferguson]

That is definitely an option also first_class_please

BA does not have great brand recognition in Qatar and like yourself the bulk of passengers on the LHR-BAH-DOH flight get off in BAH.

I guess it would be similar for QR with the bulk of their passengers being in transit to other countries.

I would imagine BA can see some £££ in flying to DOH with it’s own metal and feeding passengers onto QR and places BA do not (yet) serve or require quite a diversion – many cities in India and Pakistan for example. Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam.

***These are my personal opinions and not those of my employer***

[Bucksnet]

BA should try and get a daily slot pair from QR and operate their own non-stop service to DOH. Flight should be on an A380 as there’s lots of connecting traffic.

[HarryMonk]

Will we see BA in KL any time soon? With MH now in OneWorld and their connections to SE Asia and Australia is there not a benefit for BA to feed into the MH system?

[Author]

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