Just as a point of interest (or possibly not !!), I noticed the regular SHT9Y EDI-LHR was on the ex bmi G-DBCG, into T5 on Stand 501. Cross fleeting already?
I see that BA are starting to offer this route at weekends [F/S/S] at a competetive £71 each way [when one considers that there are no 'hidden' luggage/speedy boarding etc costs] A pity that the arrival into LHR in the early evening limits same day onward connections to most of BA's continental destinations. Or is this a deliberate strategy, so as to ensure that Iberia do not lose pax flying via Madrid?
Interesting! would have expected to see ALC ex. LGW once or twice a day catering for the same market the LGW-AGP does so. I'd imagine this is filling in for downtime when there is less demand/flights to business oriented destinations.
Maybe once BA has establishes its self on the route and the LGW fleet replacement for shorthaul has been decided we might see a twice daily ALC-LGW sit along side the LHR route
I would have thought that also if they didn't already have 4 flights per day to AGP in competing with EZY, ZB, TOM, TCX and also EI when BA moved the route over from LHR. It is a curios route to say the least
BA were flying daily LGW ALC up to about 2 years ago. 734 daily operation mostly mornings. I suspect the EZY high frequency and the arrival of FR on the route made it challenging and unattractive.
Best of luck to BA on LHR ALC. Bmi used to do it daily but it was axed as the airline moved it operation type away from leisure routes at LHR...
They may have access to the route performance data from bmi.... perhaps.
Yes, G-DBCG has been doing some of the BA shuttles recently. G-DBCJ did some last week. At the moment they're only using 1 ex-bmi aircraft from T5. Not sure if it's a trial run to see how T5 copes with loose loaded luggage rather than the unitised way of loading??
About 6 A319's have been transferred to BA and being operated by BA crew.
9 A319's have now transferred to BA. The 10th is currently in EMA being repainted into BA livery & should transfer around the 17th Aug. The last A319 won't transfer until the end of the summer.
So, reading between the lines, are BA using this route just to utilse ex-BMI 319s? I find it unusual that with slots at LHR worth £xmil, BA would use up such a valuable resource for a leisure route other than to make use of ex-BMI aircraft. Given the recent 'news' about lack of connections to China, I cannot believe that choosing Shanghai after Alicante was anything other than a tactical short term use of a slot, rather than a long-term strategic drive into the 'booming' Spanish economy!
The reason why they are announcing short Haul rather than long haul is due to the fact that they at the moment just don't have the long haul aircraft to add extra capacity, hence why the B763's and most of the B744's are no longer being retired when the A380 and B787's arrive, yes we will see some fleet retirement but not like for like which was the original plan. BMI is a short haul aircraft airline apart from the A332's which are not being kept, so obviously they want to keep the bmi aircraft utilised to their potential, I reckon over time when the new long haul aircraft arrive or even before they arrive so as to have advertised a new route we will see some short haul freq/routes cancelled in favour of using the slots for new long haul destinations. Only my opinion but I also reckon we will then see the idle aircraft not used as there isn't enough slots for short haul moved to LGW and this will be the fleet replacement.
Remember BA said they will always have to have 2/3 of their routes short haul in order to generate feeder traffic which they depend upon alot.
BA have once again had to call on Titan Airways to operate some of there services ex LGW. BA are using a Titan Airways 737 (G-POWC) and it's 757 (G-ZAPX) to operate flights to a number of different destinations. The aircraft are planned to operate:
The 757 has be configured to offer a 2 class (CE/ET) service
There is the possibility that over the next week that the G-ZAPX may be swapped with G-POWH and the 737 G-POWC with one of the other Titan 737's.
BA will also use a BACF E170 on the LGW-MAN route tomorrow in place of the usual LGW based 737. The 76 seater E170 is showing as operating the following flights:
BA2902 LGW 06:40 MAN 07:40 BA2903 MAN 08:20 LGW 09:25 BA2906 LGW 10:25 MAN 11:25 BA2907 MAN 12:00 LGW 13:05 BA2908 LGW 15:50 MAN 16:50 BA2909 MAN 17:25 LGW 18:25
Does anyone know if this is all down to serviceability problems with the 737 fleet or is it operational problems with crew??
Has there been any decision as to when they will retire the 734's ?
I was stuck in Malaga the other week for 5 hours because EUPV (a 319) developed a problem on landing which resulted in 2 computers being changed and I subsequently heard that servicability is becoming an issue with the the Airbus fleet too.
I seem to remember some discussion about the Baby fleet being moved to Gatters to replace/enhance the BA flight or was that just a load of BS
scope agreement has not been breached because all BACF aircraft are under 100 seats the E190 has 98 seats and the E170 has 76 seats but it will give the LGW pax some nice interiors to look at for a change !!
Isn't the ERJ a much better size for some of the routes at LGW? So if they kept the current seating, would they be allowed to operate on behalf of BA as things stand? Point being that over time it would allow a stronger CFE to move into where BA LGW needs the product / aircraft and allow natural wastage to downsize BA Mainline?
Would there be any issues with Cityflyer operating alongside mainline shorthaul @ LGW, as they could cover some of the shorter thinner routes and increase frequencies also on domestic routes etc.
Adfly dont see how there could be any problems, at the end of the day BACF is BA. I know a lot of people will disagree with that, and there are probably a lot of people in BA who dont know who, or what BACF is, or even where LCY is! but its a fact . The scope agreement hasnt been broken, so really all thats happening is BA using Assets it has to cover a short fall at LGW tomorrow .
