[Anonymous]

[rferguson]

Hi folks.

Announced internally this morning –
The A380 will start flying to Washington DC From September 1st. (5 x weekly BA217/216). At the same date JNB will move from 6 x weekly A380 to daily.

The 787 will take on Hyderabad (Mar 30), Chengdu (May 5), Philly (BA069/068 – Jun5). And Calgary (Jul 5).

With the additional aircraft coming online Chengdu will increase from 3 x weekly to 5 x weekly. Tokyo Haneda from 5 x weekly to daily (as well as having a departure time from HND of 0850 vs the current 06:35). Mexico City will increase to 6 x weekly.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/100029/ba-to-fly-a380-to-washington

[sparkyflier]

But no actual new routes which is what was promised with the BMI purchase which was justified saying these were needed for new routes to emerging markets, in order to get the approval.

Chengdu is the ONLY new long haul route that has started since the BMI takeover. Monrovia does not count as it is only an extension of the slot BMI used to Freetwown,

So BA has told not carried out its promise and it seems told a lie in order to get the slots, in order to simply add capacity on the same routes it already had.

[TominScotland]

sparkyflyer, I take it that Seoul Incheon is a short-haul route???

[sparkyflier]

Seoul was announced before the BMI takeover.

[GoonerLondon]

And what about Austin?

Meanwhile old aircraft are being retired too.

[TominScotland]

…., but commenced well after the takeover in December 2012 so surely counts.

Are BA supposed to operate routes for which they do not see a profitable future?

[sparkyflier]

They promised that the slots were to be used on routes to the emerging markets of South America, Africa and Asia.

Commenced after the takeover but the slots was already allocated before it happened.

Many countries in these continents have grown 5-10%, not the cr*ppy up to one or two per cent one finds in Europe or the USA.

In my opinion UK PLC and BA themselves are missing out on not having direct connections to the key growing economies of the world.

[rferguson]

I guess a factor that should be taken into consideration is the timing of the slot buy by BA and the delays to the new aircraft deliveries.

In an ideal world for BA the 787’s would have been coming online a years previous to the slot purchase.

BA’s first priority is to renew it’s fleet. For each new fuel efficient aircraft that arrives, a much thirstier older one leaves. Hence primarily the reason why so far the 787 is taking over 767 routes and the A380 747 routes. As one 787 comes on line one 767 is getting ready for being shown the door. The only new route that we have seen has been Austin which I was told is the US city with the highest amount on onward feed BA has but does not fly to direct.

Although of course BA beat the national drum of ‘britain plc’ in trying to secure the slot purchase of course THEY want to more than anyone else fly to emerging markets in the far east/india etc. There is a lot more money to be made there than there is on a short haul flight to Malta! And at the stage where the slot purchase was completed, BA should have been in a period of rapid growth where all their 767’s had been retired allowing new deliveries of the 787 to be surplus and able to launch new routes.

Well we know that didn’t happen. And the ‘inside word’ is that any new routes are likely to coincide with the 787-900 entering service (which isn’t until 2015). We can guess which ‘new’ routes will appear – Jakarta is very likely as for a period of time it actually appeared in our trip bidding system so BA had firm plans to launch and for whatever reason changed their mind – or was unable to do for other reasons. Another destination that comes up time and time again in Santiago which is fast becoming a true OneWorld hub in LATAM. Apart from the excellent LAN having an extensive network there, AA flies from a couple US cities and Qantas axed their Buenos Aires route to launch SCL, It would be a logical choice of destination in LATAM for BA to fly.

***These are my personal opinions only***

[SergeantMajor]

This is good news, though I’d like to see MIA going A380 as soon as possible.

Don’t think JFK is yet capable of handling an A380….

Where will the A350s be sent?

[SimonS1]

Emirates have been flying A380 to JFK since 2008…..

[SergeantMajor]

Must be a terminal capability issue then.

Might be why BA was rumoured to be looking to move out of T7.

[sparkyflier]

And I have seen an SQ A380 as well.

Rferguson as always you provide balanced commentary and insight on developments.

I thought the arrival of the 787s was an ideal time to use refurbished 767s to try out new routes and test the water, in areas for example such as West and elsewhere in Africa.

Jakarta is truly amazing that they still have not announced it yet. I do not believe that LH or AF going there should prevent BA starting, as their J products are generally inferior, there would be too many stops on the way there and back and there is a need for and direct flights between the UK and Jakarta.
The BA 747 being tagged from SIN was ideal to raise the profile of BA, test demand there, and keep costs down by simply having the tag as opposed to a non-stop from London. Once demand was tested BA could then allocate a 772/3 or 787 etc accordingly.

I do know Garuda is on the way, but a one stop via SIN would have been an ideal place to start from.

Santiago is of course booming, and is a oneworld hub, however Bogota is also both of those!

SM the A350s will probably replace the older 772 and 747s. The need for BAA to have big 747s must surely be declining with the MEB3 taking much of their traffic, for example Qatar serving DOH-DFW non-stop.On some routes however A380 are ideal, and I reckon they need more than the 12 on order.

[SimonS1]

Lufthansa and Korean are/were using A380 to JFK.

Not to mention this piece of excellent airmanship by Air France…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJCqBQLTWmw

[connorJohnson]

Will a A380 go to dubai to compete with Emirates for LHR-DXB route?
when BA get the A380 which are still on order

[Author]

Posts