Originally Posted by
laviation
Complete nonsense. You say BA Euroflyer is similar to Vueling / IB Express - no it is not.
Vueling is a standalone low cost carrier, they are allocated NEOs by IAG for fleet renewal and expansion.
Iberia Express runs routes out of Madrid to assist IB in competing with the low cost carriers. The business case notion falls flat again. They will be allocated NEOs with no less ‘preference’ than mainline.
It’s nothing more than BA using the NEOs at Heathrow to save money, don’t know where you have gotten this from?
Does BA Euroflyer have it's own AOC like Vueling and Iberia Express? Yes.
Is it branded the same way as it's parent? Yes, see Iberia Express?
Are they paid less? Yes, as per Iberia Express. I2 was set up by Iberia with the threat that every single new route and airframe would go to I2 and IB would be allowed to wither and die as I2 grew UNLESS staff agreed to major concessions. The public branding would be almost identical, that's why "Express" is in tiny letters.
The NEOs are a multi million pound CAPEX fleet renewal, they are placed where IAG agree they will derive maximum ROI.
IAG do not "allocate" aircraft as a benevolent daddy figure, each OpCp has to make a business case as to why they deserve them! It's competitive and a case must be made. Now it turns out that A320 CEOs are a pain point at LHR due to noise considerations meaning they're more expensive than they were, which is why almost everyone now flys the NEO to LHR, BA doesn't exactly have THAT option as they have a based fleet of CEOs.
Originally Posted by
vectisman
Ok, so why not allocate some new A320/A321 neos to Gatwick in parallel to LHR?
Same reason there's no Club Suite coming to LGW, the investment goes where the ROI can be made up faster, LGW is
relatively weaker than LHR for BA, hence LHR always gets first dibs on new equipment. If BA gets 50 new NEOS, all 50 would be expected to start their life at LHR. The only short haul narrow body I can remember that BA ever took delivery of at LGW was the very last Dan Air ordered B737-400 over three decades ago. Before that we're talking British Airtours B737-236s.
(I think that's right?)