[sparkyflier]

On IB, I have known business contacts of mine to fly from Panama City to Madrid on KLM via Amsterdam, in order to avoid IB!

On a separate note, I have heard the Panama government are so keen on BA to fly there that they will almost underwrite it!

There have been some good ideas here, but some of them I am quite sure the BA route planning dept & BA management would need to get an atlas out for!

But it seems things are happening if the rumours of Jakarta, KL, Vietnam and Santiago are true. As RFerguson said the 787 allows for long and very “interesting” routes, but the A380 should help release even more slots for such routes.

I actually think the once weekly Las Palmas route is quite innovative, and think demand will be great, not least from BA staff.

On China, I think BA will see how Chengdu does, unless they go for NW China (Urumqi) as a tag to Almaty to test that out, or Urumqi non stop to the booming Mongolia.

Any more thoughts or rumours on Sub-Saharan Africa? 767s replaced by 787s will be perfect for testing out some of these routes. . .

[sparkyflier]

It seems from the posts in this thread that BA may be looking at 787 non stop routes to places such as Santiago, and if not tagged to SIN, BKK or KUL, perhaps Jakarta, which for BA, is very bold indeed.

Are they really that much cheaper than 767/777? On a similar thread which ran last year, many contributions thought that Manila would be a good additional BA destination, but I was not so sure it would be viable, especially with such abundant (indirect) competition.

Would a non stop 787 LHR MNL be worthwhile, or perhaps stopping in Vietnam instead be more sensible?

It seems that if BA have decided upon BKK going standalone 772 in the Winter, that they have decided not to use BKK as a stop to Vietnam or Jakarta.

I reckon Taipei would justify a return, as part of “Greater China”, so another thought could be to serve Taipei along with Manila, a bit like KLM do.

However this would probably be a big cargo earning route and I do not know if the 787 has significant capabilities in this area.

[rferguson]

Not a new route as such but BA has applied to the Brazillian government to upgrade LHR-GIG to a dedicated 777-300 daily route from Oct this year. This effectively re-introduces F on the route also (as it is currently served by a three class 777-200). I guess BA sees opportunity with the recent announcement that TAM is withdrawing from the route.

[sparkyflier]

Cheers RFerguson, but I understand that TAM is not withdrawing from the route, but as they take A330 out the fleet, and utilize the fleets of both Lan and TAM, 767s will be used instead, but that these will not have a First product.
GIG is not just a tourist route, Rio is a big base for oil and gas related companies, and Brazil has huge oil reserves.
BA trying to go 773 on this is a good move.

[rferguson]

Sorry Sparkflyer, you are totally spot on! My error!

I think that given the state of SAA (their FOURTH new CEO in three years again pleading for cash from the government to keep the airline afloat) BA could be eyeing increased capacity on LHR-S.A also. My guess is an A380 to be announced for JNB soon.

[sparkyflier]

It is such a shame to see a once great airline (SAA) being ruined by basket case management with so much government “interaction”.
Would like to try their products though, however, my work has not taken me to that part odf the world in recent years.

JNB using the A380 will certainly be a good use of them, as well as releasing 3 weekly slots for other uses.

Re Brazil I wish BA mngt would show more immagination, and look at the other key cities:- Brasila, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Recife.
Re Southern Africa, why not Durban with Maputo, or even Windhoek with Gaborone with 767/787.

Harare was mentioned last year, but crew would not be so keen on resting there, but this could be a triangle 747 route with LUN, with crew resting in LUN.
Or how about Kigali, Rwanda, which KL and SN do well on.Furthermore, I think Rwandair should join Oneworld, as the only African member.
Skyteam has Kenya Airways, and Star SAA, Ethiopean, Egyptian and arguably Turkish as their African growth is phenomenal. Rwandair would help reach Central and Eastern Africa.

[VintageKrug]

…but does the Air Agreement permit use of an A380?

As I recall from the Moscow kerfuffle, specific types of aircraft were specified.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello rferguson

TAM is axing its routes linking Rio with FRA and CDG. The Rio to LHR stays but the plane type is, as sparkyflyer says, being switched to a B767.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/tam-to-axe-european-routes

[chvoyageur]

Thimphu has no airport….planes land in Paro…A319 is the biggest plane that can land there

[rferguson]

Goa is also a rumor doing the rounds. I would imagine it would be more a LGW route though.

[sparkyflier]

I recall about 2 years ago there were rumours of Goa, Phuket, Seychelles and Havana, all from LGW, which came to nothing. Apart from Goa which you mentioned, does anyone think the others are likely/plausible?

I personally think they shoud focus on business orientated destinations, but if they can make money, then let them make money!

[rferguson]

The two most successful route launches in the last couple years have both been leisure oriented – LAS from LHR and CUN from LGW. I think BA has seen that the leisure routes really can pull the £££ in.

[HarryMonk]

Sparky

I maybe wrong, please correct me if I am, but I think Phuket maybe difficult to do direct, OK outbound but I don’t think the runway at HKT is long enough for a fully loaded widebody heading for Europe on the return leg.

[sparkyflier]

Hi Harry
I did not know that, but it was a rumour on this forum a while back. However I read somewhere that Thompson will be launching a 787 there – perhaps in one of the weekend papers travel section. But there is hefty competion now on HKT from Emirates and maybe Qatar.

[sparkyflier]

I understand there are direct flights from HKT to Moscow on 744, but that is not as far as London!
A problem with BA’s Thai offering is that it is not two centre. Many people who go there want to see Bangkok and beaches like at Phuket, and travel on local airlines around the country, or by land. And airlines like QR and EK do, so to compete maybe HKT would be ideal. If 772 or 787 can do HKT- London nonstop, then why not have the route extended to Bali. I am sure this would get some decent premium traffic as well as Y passengers.

If the runway is not long enough at HKT for flights to London, how about not having the new Colombo flight stopping in Male, but making that non stop and extending that flight to HKT?

Or stopping at the brand new Habnantota in south Sri Lanka!?

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