BA Cityflyer

[adfly]

Why to BA offer a 34" pitch on the E190 short haul flights and only 31" on their long haul flights??? Surely it should be the other way round.

[SWBKCB]

See post 835 - Cityflyer are restricted to less than 100 seats, so might as well make the seats comfy!

[adfly]

But I still think they need to up their seat pitch on long haul flights, even some of the charter airlines(TOM, TCX) offer an extra couple of inches over 'full service' BA

[WHBM]

Looking at the BA timetable, operations are currently with 9 aircraft - 6 Embraer 170s, and one each of a 190, an RJ85, and an RJ100.

With four more Embraer 190s due this year there is an increase in capability beyond replacing the last two Avros. Which new operations are in prospect ? Which routes are doing well with loads to need their 170 replacing with a 190 ?

[BAladdy]

I do remember someone saying that the last RJ leaves the fleet around June. From that point onwards I believe BACF will need 4 x E190's and 5 x E170's to run the summer flying program, leaving a E170 as a standby .

[GnRdL]

With four more Embraer 190s due this year there is an increase in capability beyond replacing the last two Avros. Which new operations are in prospect ? Which routes are doing well with loads to need their 170 replacing with a 190 ?

In recent days, I read that BA cityflier intends to open two new routes during the summer: ALC-LCY and AGP-LCY.

[DutchBird-757]

With ALC around 915nm and AGP 1050nm from LCY I think that would be a bridge too far, unless the E190 could do it with a sensible payload. It's beyond the E170's limit with a full payload.

You might confuse what you read with the AGP/ALC charters being done from GLA this summer.

On June 21st both RJ85's will leave the fleet and we'll have 10 E-Jets on line. The last E190 has had it's delivery date pushed back to OCT/NOV IIRC because that one was intended for expension.

[13Alpha]

I flew on the new E190 yesterday - very impressive: quiet, comfortable, lots of space.

At a time when BA is in the news for all the wrong reasons, and after its rather halfhearted support of BA Connect and its various previous incarnations, I think the company deserves credit for investing in CityFlyer and in these new aircraft.

Compared to the clapped out B737s and Airbuses plying the EDI route from Gatwick and Heathrow it's nice to sit on a brand new aeroplane for a change.

13Alpha

[Nakata77]

Perhaps in the same way that Crossair recreated SWISS INTL after Swissair's demise, perhaps CityFlyer will either rise from the ashes of BA or take them over and start again.

I see BA going bust if these strikes continue. Good job CityFlyer is a whole different animal.

[codename]

sweet and sour

I fly to madrid every week from lcy, and since the introduction of the 170, there has been constant problems with weight and I've been denied boarding because of this issue. And to top it off, they are tagging all the trolley bags in the gate because there isn't enough room in the overhead bins! While the new aircraft are more comfortable, it seems operationally they are having problems, at least to madrid anyway, as the domestic flights I've been on have all been full without any problems. I'm sure the Emb's are more cost effective, but when you are paying out denied boarding compensation at the rate they seem to be, and the loss of passenger confidence this brings, I can't help but think they made a mistake with type selection. If anyone has any better or more accurate info on this, I would be interested to hear it.

[DutchBird-757]

The E170's are weight critical on the MAD route. If it's anything like the RJ's, you'll need the weather to cooperate to accomodate the extra weight in order to make it with a full payload.

I would like to see the E190 on the MAD's but I don't know if that would work performance wise. I haven't seen it in the system and I'm not on the E-Jet yet.

However, there are more improvements coming. As it's still a very new type its 'work in progress' and more performance enhancements are being worked on. We should see thing improve over time. I've seen it leave LCY with a full payload, so it can be done. So apologies and hope to see you on the MAD once I'm on the 'electric jet'.

[marlowe]

codename as you fly on the MAD route every week then you can see the size and the amount of bags that are brought on by the pax on this route. Pax on this route tend to try and get as much luggage into the cabin due to the long wait at MAD for checked in luggage to appear. I will assume that you dont try and get an oversized trolley bag, suit carrier and briefcase out to the aircraft? Also the LCY groundstaff need to be more vigilant at the gate to ensure that the cabin crew do not end up wasting time having to tag bags for the hold this is time consuming and slows down on time departures. Storage space on the EMB170 is not that different to the RJs.

[flying phil 2007]

BA E170s into LCY

noticed that we got an announcement about the increased level of noise being normal on the approach to LCY due to the 'increased glide' . . a bit of vibration is definately noticeable when they part deploy the spoilers on the steep approach.
The only problem with the E170s is trying to get a seat on the LCY-EDI route as the flights always seem to be full! There are less seats available as the E170s are smaller that the RJ's.
They can get the baby Airbus into LCY -wonder if it could do EDI-LCY with cattle class seats? Am sure BA could fill it...

[towser]

Phil think you will find that BA have the same problem with weight issues just going to Shannon so I suspect that were you to fill it with economy seats it probably wouldn't work to EDI.
The vibration on the approach is much more noticeable in the 190 than the 170. Just out of curiosity did you find the announcement useful or did it just draw your attention to the vibration?

[The96er]

Also the LCY ground staff need to be more vigilant at the gate to ensure that the cabin crew do not end up wasting time having to tag bags for the hold this is time consuming and slows down on time departures.

This would make no difference as this would slow down the processing of passengers through the gate and thus would still cause a delay. This problem is the same the world over, not just LCY. Passengers are more reluctant than ever to check bags in.

[flying phil 2007]

towser, I had already noticed the vibration/ buffetting on a couple of earlier flights... maybe because I was interested in seeing the spoilers pop up on the approach,,,
was wondering why they have started making the announcement?
presume they have had some comments..
BTW- the vibration is no big deal...
~ they just need to have an announcement that makes sense!

[towser]

We didn't think the announcement was very good either. I don't know what the vibration down the back on the 190 is like but from the flight deck it is much more noticeable than the 170.

[Flatspin_Fumble]

Towser, my friend, and I thought I had been banned for life from Pprune!

As a passenger on our 195's the only vibes we have in the back are good ones.

I always thought the old 146/RJ when the flaps were selected up sounded like a tube train approaching Hatton Cross.

[towser]

Flatspin its a result of the steep approach into LCY and the spoilers deploying to maintain thrust levels it doesn't happen on a normal 3 degree approach.

[marlowe]

the96er it would make a difference. The cabin crew wouldnt have to wrestle the bags from the pax on the aircraft tag them in the galley and get them down to the hold. As you say it is a problem the world over but the groundstaff could make it easier if they took the trouble to do their job correctly and tagged and stopped over size bags at the gate, this would stop there being bag problems on the aircraft at departure time, and then delays as the cabin crew then have to do the groundstaffs job for them to ensure that the cabin is safe for departure .