[AMcWhirter]

Some readers will doubtless have flown BA’s transatlantic route between LCY and JFK.

If so you may be interested to learn the fate of the two A318s.

BA operated two A318s on this route and both were in an all business class configuration.

In 2017 one A318 was sold to Titan Airways.

The other A318 had been stored in Madrid but yesterday it was flown to Twente airport (Enschede).

"Speedbird 9279" zojuist geland op @twenteairport. Deze Airbus A318 van @British_Airways met registratie G-EUNA komt voor @AELSnews. pic.twitter.com/XoNpYSiipX

— Twente Airport (@twenteairport) February 17, 2021

Unfortunately according to Belgian website Aviation this A318 is expected to be scrapped.

It is only 11 years old.

[MartynSinclair]

Purely out of curiosity, I wonder what the scrap value of an 11 year old 318 is (presumably value of the reusable spares) verses the value of converting and selling as an exec jet…(green, i.e. no interior or paint job)..

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Shamsh

[AMcWhirter]

Captain Dave ( @DaveWallsworth ) used to fly BA’s A318s between LCY and JFK.

A few mins ago he tweeted “Still remember delivery [of the A318] in 2009. Such a sad ending for this lovely aircraft which I spent many hours flying.”

FYI Captain Dave later transferred to the A380 and is now flying one of BA’s A350s.

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blloyd, BA789

[EU_Flyer]

Interesting she’s going to be scrapped. She would have been in good condition given that she presumably had done less take offs and landing than other A318s ordinarily operating short haul – given she was doing the 6-7 hour hops across the Atlantic rather than 1-2 hour short hops (notwithstanding the Shannon stops once a day).

The scrap market must be high now and it’s easy cash for BA I guess?

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Shamsh, BA789

[GBAIR72]

Going to miss the route! Loved the baby bus. Hopefully they bring back the route in the future.

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Bullfrog

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=1092962]Hopefully they bring back the route in the future.[/quote]

Non-stop flights would be possible in both directions thanks to the Bombardier C Series (now part of Airbus) which we reported a few years ago gained certification for LCY-JFK (non-stop).

[Nickberry]

I flew on this fabulous plane over 20 times and its a great shame to end its working life so early…it was the equivalent of a private jet but on a larger scale..one of BAs great inventions

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GordyUK, BA789

[SimonS1]

Innovative at the time but I would be surprised if it came back anytime soon.

The route was on its last legs before Covid, down from 2 flights to 1 a day, and the pandemic gave BA a convenient reason to kill it off.

Is there scope for all-business flights? Many have tried but few have succeeded.

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Shamsh, Bullfrog

[SenatorGold]

[postquote quote=1093182]

For a number of years Qatar operated an all business class A319 between Doha and London only to replace it with an A350.

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alainboy56

[StephenLondon]

[postquote quote=1093182]

Indeed, there used to be scope for all business class flights when you look at the history not only of the BAbyBus and the Qatar A319, but the likes of EOS, Silverjet, Maxjet and a few others that came and went. I’d need to have a check on La Compagnie, which was (until the pandemic) doing relatively well on its PAR-NYC route and was even starting NYC-NCE with new all C-Class A321neos featuring 76 seats. As/when trans-atlantic flying returns, might they do well given the space on board and distance from other people? At least short-term, it could prove to be very popular once again.

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Bullfrog, DerekVH, SimonS1

[MartynSinclair]

What made the the baby bus special and unique was the arrival onto a domestic stand at JFK, that no other ‘direct’ UK flight enjoyed.

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Bullfrog, AnthonyDunn, DerekVH

[AnthonyDunn]

Hi Martyn,

One of my favourite, if not favourite, flights of all time. It reminded us of just how things might have been back in the day of Imperial Airways and the flying boat services with small planes, payloads and a very intimate level of service. A shame that it has gone West but inevitable in the face of circumstances.

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=1093251]Indeed, there used to be scope for all business class flights when you look at the history not only of the BAbyBus and the Qatar A319, but the likes of EOS, Silverjet, Maxjet and a few others that came and went.[/quote]

Do you also remember how some of Europe’s national airlines also went all business class ?

They leased one class Airbus and Boeing aircraft from Swiss airline Privatair.

Swiss itself used one to operate Zurich-New York.

KLM used to operate Amsterdam-Houston non-stop (quite a distance for a 737).

Lufthansa operated Dusseldorf to New York and Chicago. Also Munich-New York.

But times changed and eventually all these services were later discontinued.

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Shamsh, Bullfrog

[GivingupBA]

AMcWhirter said “KLM used to operate Amsterdam-Houston non-stop (quite a distance for a 737)”.

Thank you for that, but as far as I know at over 5000 miles Amsterdam-Houston is beyond the non-stop range for any of the 737 variants? I’ll be very glad to be corrected, or maybe the flight stopped enroute? Thank you again.

[SimonS1]

[postquote quote=1093343]

It was definitely a 737-700 business jet leased from PrivatAir with 44 seats.

PrivatAir did some long routes by 737 at the time, I remember Frankfurt to Accra on one.

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GivingupBA

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