[canucklad]

For those of you who have dismissed my future vision of primary hub to hub flights ala the US model in the future with hubs being decided by alliance membership—-

so the BA brand will increasingly become “Oneworld” and the hubs being LHR/HKG/MAD /SYD & Dallas etc —

so say you had to fly Oneworld Airlines between Newcastle & Singapore the route journey would pobably be NCL -LHR on BA then Oneworld to HKG & onward with Cathay—-

Consider this in the continuing era of globalization….how many of you are Priority Club members & stay in the same hotel group regardless of whether you’re in Nairobi,Newcastle or New Zealand

On other words, as the green lobbyivocalises,goverment taxes become more punative,fuel prices go ballistic—profit margins squeezed—

rather than more routes –individual airlines within alliances will probably concentrate on thier own back yard & allow the parent airline to operate the hub to hub routes–go no further than Skyteam currently & watch that evolve

[Sparepocket]

Canucklad, what would be the contingency plan in the event of industrial action (let’s be honest, BA face more action over the years). Supposing the passenger can’t fly out of NCL on BA owing to a strike, will BA then: a)refund the client for the entire ticket (including the LON-HKG leg) even though the LON-HKG leg may or not be on BA (it could be on CX, as you imply) or will BA simply refund the client for the NCL-LON leg?
or b) Allow the passengers to transfer to EK or any of the European carriers flying out of NCL?

[transtraxman]

Can anyone say at what capacity Gatwick is being used? i.e. How many more slots are available until it reaches capacity? When is that envisaged?

[craigwatson]

We need to get a much better rail network, and then BA should drop its domestic operation all together, thereby freeing up quite a few slots at Heathrow for more lucrative long haul.

From anywhere south of say Newcastle it is almost as quick as flying to catch the train.

Say 30 minute drive to local airport, 2-2.5 hours at the departing airport, 1-1.5 hour flight.

whereas the train anywhere between 2-3 hours to london and maybe 1-1.5 hours for connection out to heathrow. There is not much in it

[canucklad]

sparepocket–what I am alluding to is that BA/AA/Cx etc all have part ownership in the global intercontinental hub to hub airline-in this case “Air Oneworld”

[canucklad]

Adding to my last post, it’s interesting to note that IATA’s CEO believes that “Heathrow is on it’s way to becoming a secondary hub”

I also agree with the train argument, to a point

I am about to travel from Edinburgh to Leeds, my company insists on train travel on journeys of this length—-for green credi!!!

I am going to have to endure 3.5 hours of hell with little change out of £200 and this isn’t first class or a reserved seat

I could do it cheaper & faster if I was allowed to use BMI regional—

This comes back to the original point of new routes for BA, in as much that starting up an EDI to YYZ/JFK would show people & culture investment in a non London area , and continue the dramatic growth of EDI as an international gateway—they might even poach back customers who are currently routing through the continent to get to JFK

And would avoid getting mugged by HMRC on its domestic connections if using BA through LHR

[craigwatson]

i disagree about the train, re pricing,

if you book well in advance you can get the train for around £30. your £200 fare i assume was fairly last minute. well i just looked on BMI for a flight in a few days time and its £190 economy or £195 business for a one way to leeds, so they are similar prices, and flying would take you at least 3.5 hours as well. 1 hour flight, 1.5 hours at EDI and .5 hours to get from LBA into town.

[First-Pax]

I heard that LGW/ Ft Lauderdale is starting this summer. Any truth in that?

[Hippocampus]

I think if FLL was launching this summer it would have gone on sale by now.

[Sparepocket]

What are the chances that a US carrier swoops in and launches a LON-FLL service before BA gets there?

[VintageKrug]

😉

[skyguy79]

Munkyboi makes a ver valid point for Honolulu as it is not served by any European carrier unless via codeshares with American carriers.

But whilst Munkyboi is surprised that BA doesn’t fly to New Zealand,I am more surprised that BA doesn’t serve Pakistan.

The airline cancelled Islamabad flights in 2008 as per the hotel bombing and yet continues to fly to Mumbai where similar events took place. Why is it that other major airlines like Thai,Emirates,Qatar,Etihad,Saudi Arabian,Turkish,Cathay etc etc all fly into Pakistan yet BA is a big scaredy cat ?

I was actually working for BA in 2008 and there should have been a new flight from Heathrow to Lahore using a 777 which instead went to a new Las Vegas flight !

There is so much commercial potential in Pakistan for investment and businesses. Where BA loses out,other airlines cash in, even PIA with the new ultra modern 777s on LHR-PAK almost always have a full Business Class cabin,the product is that good and also business people need to get to the UK from Pakistan and vice versa.

I know people that used to travel from Scotland,Birmingham and Manchester to London just to fly on a £700 BA Economy ticket to Pakistan, such was the loyalty.Similarly Manchester-Islamabad flights were always full.

PIA recebtly stopped the nonstop Glasgow-Lahore service and BA can easily do MAN/GLA/ABZ/EDI to Lahore via Heathrow.

God knows how they plan routes in BA….

[skywards]

I would love to see a Newcastle to JFK route maybe 3 or 4 times per week, AA pulled out before they even started a single flight.

[skywards]

Manila would be a great route….for myself it’s either a flight from NCL to AMS for a 15 flight with KLM or a 7 and 9 hour flights from NCL via DXB with EK both airlines C class seats are not great EK’s is hit and miss on their B777’s and their A330.200 is very basic in C class.

[transtraxman]

If I may refer you to my posts on 15th & 16th Feb. about new routes – especially to Durban. This has appeared today….

“Indaba 2011: New Durban to London direct service”

http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/indaba-2011-new-durban-to-london-direct-service/

Perhaps I should remind you that Comair is BA´s franchisee in South Africa whiole the other brand to which it refers is “Kulula.com”(its low cost airline – very unlikely that it would fly Durban – LGW)

Are there any other routes on the cards?

[Author]

Posts