BA to become sole LHR to MAD airline?
 

Any truth in gossip that IAG may ask Iberia to stop LHR-MAD flights later this year?

Makes sense if over capacity and a bonus for BA if it secures new slots for new longhaul routes.

Didnt this same topic of discussion cause a heated debate on another forum, and turn out to be a whole load of cobblers, with the animosity between a certain Spaniard := and the Brits being the reason the thread was shut down? :mad: :*

It seems pointless to restart the debate here in PPRUNE.

Joburg next destination for A380
 

Ba have indicated Johannesburg will be 3rd destination for A380.

SFO will be the 4th

Californian cities (LAX/SFO) are good for schedule efficiency as the round trip is slightly over 24 hours, the aircraft typically returning to London just after the next day's flight has left. If the aircraft that does a mid-morning departure and return can then be assigned to an after-lunch departure to the other city, this fits in nicely with the early morning arrival and evening departure of the Johannesburg flights, with comfortable turnrounds at London.

On a historical note, this is exactly how the first BA 747-200Bs, with enhanced range, were deployed when they arrived in the fleet in 1977.

Will JNB flights be retimed for A380? The aircraft normally arrives early morning from LHR and sits on ground all day until evening departure.

Not a good utilisation of a new aircraft as costly as an A380.

That's how Air France & Lufthansa operate their 380s to JNB. They just sit there all day. I assume that they either can't fill or get the yield from a daytime flight. In fact I think there are virtually no daylight Europe-SA flights.

If the yield justifies the type, then I guess it works.

Lengthy north-south intercontinental routes in pretty much the same time zone, like Europe to Johannesburg, just do not work commercially for daylight flights. USA to Argentina/Chile is another. The flights takes literally all day and thus cannot give sensible onward connections at one or maybe both ends. By the time you have transferred and are ready to check in again, onward services have typically stopped for the day.

It's not only aviation connections, late arrivals can find that onward public transport is finished for the day as well.

There have been a couple of attempts over time, generally where the operations side have managed to muscle over the commercial team, and they have always ended as disasters for revenue. If you manage high theoretical utilisation but the passengers don't want it, what's the point ? The only thing a European carrier can do is leave Europe as late as practical, and try to be back home as early in the morning as possible, after two nights away, to merge the scheduling with other routes. Bear in mind that the bulk of aviation costs are actually related to flying hours, costs which are just straight time-dependent are a minority - this even applies to an extent to aircraft leasing costs.

cheesycol - maybe an exception to the rule, but I think KLM do a daylight southbound from Amsterdam to both Johannesburg and Cape Town

Turin is correct. The first, G-DOCU, takes off for her final destination today. Due to arrive in VCV on the 4th. :(

Heathrow arrival - stand not ready
 

A while ago I started to keep records of my BA arrivals at Heathrow where we had to hold just off stand waiting for the stand guidance to be switched on, and other preparations for our actual arrival. My most recent arrival made it the fourth time IN A ROW when this happened. Of course, I only started these records because it had happened umpteen times previously. This is a phenomena unique to Heathrow and has never occurred to me at any BA outstation.

Equally extraordinary are PA announcements from the flight deck at these times as if such an event has never been known before.

The most common excuses given are either "well, we are a bit early", or "well we are a bit late", as if it is only possible for the Heathrow (uniquely) gate staff to be on duty in time for a precisely punctual arrival. But the last time I had one of these, we had to hold then as well.

Possibly if the BA airside manager were to invest in a little PC and get onto the Flightstats website, which is I believe run by enthusiasts off various open-access ATC feeds, they might be able to see a good indication of expected arrivals.

Through the window one is well able to distinguish between waiting for another aircraft to leave the stand, or manoeuvre ahead, and the stand personnel just not being there on your nicely vacant stand when you arrive.

I wonder if anyone at BA T5 has ever though to go over to London City, where incoming aircraft require two marshallers to be in place to guide them in and turn them tightly, who have never, in all the years I have used LCY, not been in position as we arrive.

Am I right in thinking that it didn't in fact depart yesterday ?

Why would the agents need flight stats when they are likely to have a very good flight information system. Of course the issue lies when aircraft are in holds etc and were all expected in at the same time.

I have no doubt they are also linked in to the ground radar so they would be able to see the likelyhood of which aircraft it likely to be on stand first.

I'm guessing if an aircraft is early then the team expected to turn it round maybe stuck on another aircraft. Also if a plane is late then you have to deal with that delayed aircraft as soon as possible.

In an ideal world with endless pot of money to dip in for turnaround teams to be sat around waiting for an aircraft to arrive so it's on stand immediately however things have changed and there is likely to be very little slack in the system when things go off schedule.