British Airways - 2

[BALHR]

With 3/4 rwys at LHR anything becomes possible.

Not ACI, and if EMA is viable, so may BHX, NWI and CWL be as well. Would expect either DSA or HUY but not both.

All the above, and others, are crying out for an LHR link, but not convinced that BA would neccessarily be on all of these routes. AFAIK, they don't have the aircraft suitable for the thinnest routes.

Could see other carriers on the thinner routes (BM or BE perhaps?), perhaps in collaboration with BA and/or VS, (through ticketing and baggage checked through to final destination, etc.).

Also suspect that commuter flights will come into their own with increasing congestion on the roads and another 10 years of above-inflation rail ticket hikes. Feeding longhaul as well makes more of these viable.

As for BA flights, or VS for that matter, think adfly's list (see below) is about right.

However none of this will happen without the elimination of the delays, congestion and the artificial market in slots at LHR, and that means 1-2 more rwys and new terminal capacity. Under those circumstances could also imagine a U2 presence at LHR for some of their more busines-orientated routes!

The reason I picked EMA is because (based on looking on a map), it’s quite a distance from Derby/Nottingham/Leicester to LHR/LGW, maybe Norwich and maybe (at a push) Birmingham fits into that category as well, there might also be a direct rail link to Heathrow from Cardiff (there is already a indirect one via Reading)

Why do you suggest that either Doncaster-Sheffield OR Humberside is viable?

Also BA does have the aircraft suitable for the thinnest of routes, when I mean “BA” however, I mean BA CityFlyer who have E170s and E190s available, not only that, but they wet-lease a Saab 2000 for the LCY-IOM route from Eastern Airways

If a E-jet is too big for the route to be viable, then perhaps BA could wet-lease a turboprop from either Eastern Airways or Flybe (with BA livery, FF and interlining) to do the job (either a Saab 2000 or a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400)

“Commuter Flights” (I would prefer to call them “Intercity Flights”) out of LHR/LGW/LCY (preferably the latter) could work, but only if the oil price remains stable ($100-110 per barrel) and rail fares continue to rise at the rate it currently is doing for a extended period, then we might see London-Birmingham/Cardiff (and a lot more) again, if BA CityFlyer operated these routes, it could turn out to be quite lucrative…

As for Easyjet operating out of LHR, I would feel that it would become possible (as they become more of a business orientated “hybrid” carrier) once there is space at LHR (they are only at LGW/LTN/STN because there is space and its cheap, but LCCs are creeper into LHR recently…), if they move their LGW/LTN/STN operations (which can be done once LHR has 4+ runways), then it would leave massive holes at both airports

In fact of LHR gains at least 2 runways, (with all the full-service carries at LGW moving to LHR along with U2’s LGW/LTN/STN ops), it would leave Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, quite empty, certainly no need for a 2nd runway at LGW