[Anonymous]

[VintageKrug]

Reports suggest that new routes for the successful Club World London City (CWLCY) product may be in the offing.

Two 32-seat BA A318s currently ply the London City Airport to New York JFK route, which is a direct, non-stop service on the JFK-LCY sector, but has a brief re-fuelling stop in Shannon on the West Coast of Ireland before continuing on the New York as a “domestic” flight.

The stopover is made time-efficient by ensuring passengers clear both US Immigration and Customs in hassle-free Shannon. On arrival in New York, passengers can get from aircraft seat to limousine in under five minutes.

Dubai and Moscow have been mooted as possible destinations, but range is limited from the shorter LCY runway, though there is talk of an extension being built in due course.

The most likely destination would be Washington DC or Boston, but this would be a considerable time away given BA would have to purchase and configure additional A318 aircraft. This could be achieved by converting some of the existing outstanding options for A320 aircraft, which the airline currently holds.

The technological constraints of the A318s existing range and the short runway at LCY are clearly frustrating BA’s longhaul expansion plans at the airport.

“We’d fly direct to New York if we could” said Willie Walsh

[VintageKrug]

This is looking ever more likely, possibly even sooner than the end of 2011 depending on what size planes have been ordered using the Iberia planes which will be allocated to BA:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23874461-british-airways-boss-identifies-12-potential-takeover-targets.do

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“British Airways is preparing to expand its transatlantic flight routes from London City airport as part of a host of big investments planned by boss Willie Walsh to capitalise on the airline’s recovery from recession.
The news could lead to a jobs boost at the capital’s smallest major airport after Walsh said BA’s direct route from London City to New York – which launched last September – had been “hugely successful” and revealed that the flag carrier is looking at ordering more Airbus A318 planes, which have to be specially modified to cater for the short runway.

When BA first launched its business class-only service from London City to New York at the height of the recession in autumn last year, critics said it would be a failure. Some likened it to Silverjet, the business class airline that went bust in May 2008.

But Walsh said the London-New York route had been “even better than we’d expected”. He added: “It’s a word of mouth success. London City is a convenient airport for business, and we can put more flights on at peak times which we couldn’t do at Heathrow because of capacity

“Now we’re looking at either increasing capacity or the network, potentially to Boston, Washington or Chicago.”

Walsh said that the new planes could be ordered within weeks. With a lead-in time of nine months the new City routes could be flying before the end of next year. Walsh revealed the plans after BA flew the inaugural flight of its new Boeing 777-300ER to Mumbai, the airline’s first major investment since the downturn.

After a difficult year during which BA faced a damaging 22 days of staff strikes costing £250million and being hit by a recession-fuelled plunge in demand, Walsh is now planning to capitalise on economic recovery.

He said BA’s current “healthy-looking” passenger and cargo numbers were a “barometer of confidence”. “Our long-haul premium volumes and yields have recovered faster than we had anticipated,” he said. “As an airline, we’re not seeing anything suggestive of an economic downturn. So far recovery is going a little faster than I’d expected.”

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http://www.ba.com/clubworldlondoncity

[JJ51435]

London City airport is an urban airport. Is there really that much acceptance from the neighborhoods being flown over with the noise and air pollutions engendered by aircraft?

[Author]

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