British Airways - 2
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: EC
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Whilst obvious that IAG are buying BMI for the slots, if you read the Investors Day presentation and see what savings IAG will make with Iberia Express that IAG must be tempted to do the same at British Airways, using BMI as the lower cost platform. I guess that's what Willie means by "the BMI of the future will look very different from the BMI of today". Looking at the Iberia Express projections I can see BMI's fleet of 25 A320 and A330 doubling to 50 by 2015. That will be great news for BMI career progression after years of stagnation.
babybaby
babybaby
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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What fleet do BA have at LGW these days, types and number of aircraft?
19 based B737-400s, supplemented by 2-3 A319s from LHR over the summer.
Join Date: Feb 2007
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1) What are the current mixed fleet routes? Ive seen MRU has gone/going back over to LGW and AMS has gone back to Euro fleet?
Shorthaul:
Budapest
Hamburg
Kiev
Lisbon
Manchester
Paris Orly
Pisa
Prague
St Petersburg
Tripoli (Currently Suspended)
Vienna
Longhaul:
Accra
Chicago
Denver
Haneda
Las Vegas
Luanda
Nairobi
Pheonix
Rio De Janeiro
San Diego
Former Mixed Fleet Routes:
Amsterdam - Route Transferred back to Eurofleet
Atlanta - Route Transferred back to WW fleet November 2011
Mauritius - Route Transferred to LGW at end of S11 schedule
These routes are subject to possible future change i.e. it is possible that any of these routes could move back to Worldwide/Eurofleet and be replaced by different routes in future months.
2) Is the B744 used in mixed fleet or not? Any plans to use it as seen as its quite a large proportion of the Long Haul fleet?
3) Any plans for further routes to enter the mixed fleet operation?
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: cornwall, uk
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I've heard that the 767's will be staying and the 787's are now expansion aircraft rather than replacement aircraft.
cs
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: west side
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bmi and BA pilots say yes
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS
IAG plans to integrate bmi mainline into British Airways, subject to receiving regulatory approval for the acquisition. This follows agreement by British Airways’ pilots to make productivity changes that justify the integration.
IAG Printer Friendly Version - News Release=
IAG plans to integrate bmi mainline into British Airways, subject to receiving regulatory approval for the acquisition. This follows agreement by British Airways’ pilots to make productivity changes that justify the integration.
IAG Printer Friendly Version - News Release=
Join Date: May 2006
Location: london
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anyone know anymore about when the midland crew are likely to hear their fate?
we have alot of experienced crew who have been with the company for years.
our worst fear is to be dumped on to Mixed fleet earning £1000 a month... which for most of us is unsustainable as we have families and a mortgage..
we just want to know so we can plan our lives..
we have alot of experienced crew who have been with the company for years.
our worst fear is to be dumped on to Mixed fleet earning £1000 a month... which for most of us is unsustainable as we have families and a mortgage..
we just want to know so we can plan our lives..
Join Date: May 2002
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anyone know anymore about when the midland crew are likely to hear their fate?
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Middlesex (under the flightpath)
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No, HND is very much alive and thriving!
It's by far Japan's busiest airport and ranks just below LHR in the table of busiest airports. It handles mostly, though not exclusively, domestic traffic.
When the bulk of international services were moved to NRT, a handful remained at HND (GMP, SHA, TSA, etc.) but now that there are four runways, international services to/from HND are expanding, and limited flights to/from Europe and North America have recently restarted.
It's not hard to understand the continuing popularity of HND, it's dead convenient for Tokyo being just a short monorail ride away. Compare that to the trek all the way out to NRT.
It's by far Japan's busiest airport and ranks just below LHR in the table of busiest airports. It handles mostly, though not exclusively, domestic traffic.
When the bulk of international services were moved to NRT, a handful remained at HND (GMP, SHA, TSA, etc.) but now that there are four runways, international services to/from HND are expanding, and limited flights to/from Europe and North America have recently restarted.
It's not hard to understand the continuing popularity of HND, it's dead convenient for Tokyo being just a short monorail ride away. Compare that to the trek all the way out to NRT.
Join Date: Sep 2004
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No, HND is very much alive and thriving!
I totally agree about HND v NRT - and I think those stacked discs are pretty iconic too! It isn't just the monorail though - HND is way better for Yokohoma, or anywhere really in metro Tokyo + there's all the domestic links too.
We like to think the Japanese have an excellent rail network (which they do) - apart from high speed airport transfers. Shinkansen link to NRT got dropped, and as you say, it is way out in the boondooks compared to NRT. Surprise BA bother serving it at all, but I suppose JAL offer some connections from there.
Join Date: Aug 2009
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The timings on the HND are not great. A VERY early departure in the morning from HND for example. It is more convenient than NRT but there are fast trains (albeit not Shinkansen) from the airport to Ueno, Tokyo main station, Shinjuku etc so it's not the nightmare it once was.
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Middlesex (under the flightpath)
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Correct me if this is wrong, but AFAIK the inconvenient timings at HND are to do with restrictions on slot pairs for (long haul) international flights. Tuesdays and wednesdays can be quiet days on some long haul flights. Surprised it's not daily though.
I'm sure that intercontinental airlines would move all operations from NRT to HND if there were no restrictions on operating hours. As it is I believe that intercontinental flights cannot operate between 0630 & 2230 local (happy to be corrected if wrong). The current BA schedule is:
LHR 0805 X23
HND 0455 X34
HND 0625 X34
LHR 1000 X34
This might work for First/Club the idea being that you arrive at 0455 after a night in your sleeper seat ready for a days work and after a long days work. I would certainly prefer NRT for a leisure trip. Yes its in the middle of nowhere but at least the times are civilised.
Airlines would generally prefer a night flight and JL operate a codeshare with AF to the following schedule:
HND 0130
CDG 0620
CDG 1100
HND 0655
BA could utilise the slot currently used by BA212 to give the following schedule:
LHR 0935
HND 0625
HND 0140
LHR 0515.
This would mean a plane on the ground for 19 hours although with 747s in the Nevada desert this might not be a problem - except that the 747 may be too large an aircraft.
Alternatively JL could operate the route and BA increase frequencies to NRT if they are given authority to codeshare.
LHR 0805 X23
HND 0455 X34
HND 0625 X34
LHR 1000 X34
This might work for First/Club the idea being that you arrive at 0455 after a night in your sleeper seat ready for a days work and after a long days work. I would certainly prefer NRT for a leisure trip. Yes its in the middle of nowhere but at least the times are civilised.
Airlines would generally prefer a night flight and JL operate a codeshare with AF to the following schedule:
HND 0130
CDG 0620
CDG 1100
HND 0655
BA could utilise the slot currently used by BA212 to give the following schedule:
LHR 0935
HND 0625
HND 0140
LHR 0515.
This would mean a plane on the ground for 19 hours although with 747s in the Nevada desert this might not be a problem - except that the 747 may be too large an aircraft.
Alternatively JL could operate the route and BA increase frequencies to NRT if they are given authority to codeshare.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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When I first moved down in 2005 LHR had :
BA005 / 006 NRT B744
BA007 / 008 NRT B744
JL401 / 402 NRT B744
JL403 / 404 NRT B744
JL421 / 422 OSA B744?
BA cancelled the second NRT for a while and re-instated the service to Haneda as 5 per week. JAL now only operates a single NRT, so Japan is still well down over the period.
BA005 / 006 NRT B744
BA007 / 008 NRT B744
JL401 / 402 NRT B744
JL403 / 404 NRT B744
JL421 / 422 OSA B744?
BA cancelled the second NRT for a while and re-instated the service to Haneda as 5 per week. JAL now only operates a single NRT, so Japan is still well down over the period.
Join Date: Feb 2008
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The timing of the Haneda longhaul "window" makes scheduling of flights from the UK particularly difficult.
BA currently operates close to the end of the window, but still departs from Heathrow too early for feeder connections from elsewhere. Departure from Haneda is also uncomfortably early, but not quite early enough to make it worth saving a night in a hotel. Moving to early in the window might make it more user-friendly at the Tokyo end, but would involve a night departure from London.
Peter47's idea of a plane on the ground at Haneda all day could ease the timing problems, but even retrieving a 747 from the desert might not make it economic.
Another alternative, which also has drawbacks, would be to introduce an intermediate stop in somewhere like Seoul. This would probably permit an evening departure from London, arriving at Inchon (Gimpo would be better for Korean domestic connections, but is probably not acceptable to the Korean authorities) in time for a late eveing departure to get in early in the Haneda window. Return might be possible early enough to save that night's hotel in Tokyo and still arrive back in Seoul late enough to avoid any night curfews.
Obvious disadvantages are that the flight to Tokyo would no longer be non-stop and picking up passengers for the Seoul-Tokyo and return legs might difficult both practically and legally. However such a routing would introduce a British presence onto a route where there is none. It would also increase One World presence in an area currently well-served by Sky Team and *Alliance, but only by Finnair from One World.
BA currently operates close to the end of the window, but still departs from Heathrow too early for feeder connections from elsewhere. Departure from Haneda is also uncomfortably early, but not quite early enough to make it worth saving a night in a hotel. Moving to early in the window might make it more user-friendly at the Tokyo end, but would involve a night departure from London.
Peter47's idea of a plane on the ground at Haneda all day could ease the timing problems, but even retrieving a 747 from the desert might not make it economic.
Another alternative, which also has drawbacks, would be to introduce an intermediate stop in somewhere like Seoul. This would probably permit an evening departure from London, arriving at Inchon (Gimpo would be better for Korean domestic connections, but is probably not acceptable to the Korean authorities) in time for a late eveing departure to get in early in the Haneda window. Return might be possible early enough to save that night's hotel in Tokyo and still arrive back in Seoul late enough to avoid any night curfews.
Obvious disadvantages are that the flight to Tokyo would no longer be non-stop and picking up passengers for the Seoul-Tokyo and return legs might difficult both practically and legally. However such a routing would introduce a British presence onto a route where there is none. It would also increase One World presence in an area currently well-served by Sky Team and *Alliance, but only by Finnair from One World.
Tokyo has the issue seen elsewhere - a "new" airport so far from the urban area it purports to servce that no airline would use it unless forced. A generation or so later, the restrictions come off and carriers desert overnight, or as much as they are permitted, back to the old place.
Montreal was a classic for this (Mirabel now closed) and Prestwick the same for an example nearer home. Boris Island advocates please note.