British Airways - 2

[Aero Mad]

Not to all those companies that produce desktop models/posters etc who followed Boeings word and made everything with white nacelles

To be honest the sort of people who buy these hideous impersonations aren't really going to care. It actually seems as though they took the Concorde nose and then stitched a 767 onto it... just look at it

[DaveReidUK]

If I'd paid good money for a model like that, I'd be more concerned about that ridiculous nose/flight deck profile than about the colour of the nacelles.

[Msunduzi]

My preferred route to Manila is Birmingham-Amsterdam-Manila, good long rest and avoids Hellrow.

Never, never, never via Dubai again!

If BA introduced similar flights, it would be worth looking at, only problem would be strikes, On more than one occasion we have been fortunate not to be flying BA as they were affected by strikes at the time, and as our final flight in the Philippines has to be booked separately, we would have had to pay again for it after the delay.

(I am NOT commenting on the merit of any strikes, only on the effect it has/could have on our travels(

[ETOPS]

only problem would be strikes

But nobody in BA is going on strike - or do you mean in the Philippines?

[airsmiles]

If I'd paid good money for a model like that, I'd be more concerned about that ridiculous nose/flight deck profile

I'm certainly not keen on the real nose /flight deck profile. It looks a plain ugly duckling to me at the front end. I suppose another 10 mpg is what they wanted though

[GEB74]

I'm not sure why some people think slots are an issue for BA regarding reasonable levels of long haul expansion.
Each long haul flight obviously would only need one slot pair assuming it runs daily (and many new routes would start at lower frequency than that)

Whats MAN running at frequency wise now - 10 or 11 a day? Cut that to 7 or 8 like it often was pre BMI merger.
Cancel the 3* slotsitter that is LBA
Cancel the 3* slot sitter that is RTM
Stop messing around with Palma and Ibiza etc.
You've just created 9 or 10 slot pairs.
OK, they might not all be ideally timed for long haul, but thats for the schedulers to sort out!
The reality is that it is likely to take BA 3 years+ to launch that amount of new long haul routes..............

[Torquelink]

You've just created 9 or 10 slot pairs.

But, without wishing to restart the whole LHR expansion debate again, this is just stop-gap stuff. Over the next 20 years or so, there will be a substantial increase in the number of economically important destinations in Asia, LatAm and Africa which will require direct service to/from LHR if London / UK is to remain a pre-eminent business and tourist destination, and successive governments have just continued to dodge the issue. Already it seems certain that LHR will not have the capacity compete in the connecting traffic market - even if it wanted to - but at the very least it needs to provide unfettered access for those wishing to come to London as final destination.

BA seems to be building the appropriate fleet for this type of operation - 787s and A350s - but whether they will be able to exploit their capabilities fully 10 - 20 years from now is an open question.

[rogera]

which airport is RTM ?

[DaveReidUK]

which airport is RTM ?

Rotterdam

http://www.google.com/search?q=RTM+IATA+CODE

[HOODED]

Seems a little harsh to bin LBA/RTM completeley given the LBA loads are picking up nicely now the flight operates to T5. A reduction in MAN probably wouldn't hurt too much to free up LH slots but at the end of the day you have to use each slot to maximise your profits so sadly I can't see LBA/RTM lasting unless slots from elsewhere become available.

[LAX_LHR]

Whats MAN running at frequency wise now - 10 or 11 a day? Cut that to 7 or 8 like it often was pre BMI merger.

MAN is currently 10 per day and currently running at about 87% LF on average (yes, some quiet flights/days, but on the whole, very busy.)

A reduction in MAN probably wouldn't hurt too much

Given that MAN will rise to 13 per day again in October, LHR-MAN-LHR obviously quite a lucrative feeder market for them.

Whats also interesting with MAN, there seems to be a growing market for 'reverse' connections.
Over the past few months, Ive seen more people start to travel LHR-MAN-GOT/AAR/BLL/JFK/ORD. Yes, its still quite a small market (about 10-20 pax per day), but, an interesting trend either way.

[cornishsimon]

Uv got to admit she does look ansum !!


cs

[HOODED]

Seems a little harsh to bin LBA/RTM completeley given the LBA loads are picking up nicely now the flight operates to T5. A reduction in MAN probably wouldn't hurt too much to free up LH slots but at the end of the day you have to use each slot to maximise your profits so sadly I can't see LBA/RTM lasting unless slots from elsewhere become available.

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by HOODED

A reduction in MAN probably wouldn't hurt too much to free up LH slots but at the end of the day you have to use each slot to maximise your profits so sadly I can't see LBA/RTM lasting unless slots from elsewhere become available.

Surely the whole purpose of the BMI acquisition was to provide a substantial increase in BA available slots, given that BMI were the second largest slot holder at Heathrow and that only a fraction of their flights have been carried forward. Apart from a few new Virgin domestic flights, I'm not quite sure where the BMI slots have gone.

I understood that the real crunch for BA now is the capacity of T5, especially airside in terms of gates. Of course, with the consistent arrivals which find the ramp staff are still in the tea room rather than in position to allow direct taxying onto stand (there isn't another carrier/airport I have ever experienced like this), and the T5 stand layout which then means they hold blocking others, a little reorganisation of the ground crew might work wonders.

[Skipness One Echo]

T5 stand layout which then means they hold blocking others,

There's no cul de sacs so you can work around for the most part unlike T1 and T4 thank goodness. In other completely unrelated news, British Airways entire ramp Gatwick operation was outsourced to Swissport in October removing a major staff cost from the business and modernising working practices in line with industry standards. Unrelated as I said, much like GLA / EDI / MAN etc are with Menzies and NCL / LBA / BHD are with local handlers as well.

[Omnipresent]

The LBA and RTM routes are improving and LBA in particular is picking up and moving in the right direction:

So how are BA?s new routes to Leeds-Bradford and Rotterdam performing? | London Air Travel

[aeulad]

LBA and RTM are not merely slot sitters. They are here for the long term, in particular LBA.

Kind regards

Mike

[Heathrow Harry]

I wouldn't bet on it - BA have gradually pulled out of UK routes due to competition from trains and cars - LBA generates relativley little inter-lining traffic and (together with newcastle) is the most likely for the chop when they need another set of slots..........

Apart from Manchester only the Scottish routes make sense

[DaveReidUK]

Apart from Manchester only the Scottish routes make sense

Are you a fan of the Liverpool-Belfast ferry, then?

[davidjohnson6]

Harry - do you know if there is a particular reason as to why LHR-LBA is not seeing significant numbers of connecting passengers ? It may be the grim north but Yorkshire isn' *that* poor or devoid of people...