BA are offering fares that are more than comparable with the LOCo's without all the add ons.Provided they can sustain the cabin service levels during this downturn they should come out the other side with a good customer base still intact.

BA.com would not normally be the first place one would go to for a cheap flight but if you are nearer Heathrow or Gatwick and take the travelling costs and time into consideration and book early,they really do offer value for money.

[I"It is rumoured that a number of Easy 320s (ex GB airways) are en route to LHR to free up a further 4 319's for LGW services"


Ex Easyjet G-TTOB is already back in BA livery and started ops at LHR 19/3. G-TTOE is at Shannon awaiting repaint and due to join BA LHR fleet in May. I think BA only are taking two ex EZY 320's!

I had a good giggle yesterday. Check out page 6 of the current "Sky shopping" magazine. Whoever setup the photo of the little 787 model put the wings on upside down.......:}

BA Axes More Routes out of LGW
 

Notice that BA have moved the Atlanta and Toulouse services from LGW to LHR. So the long haul destinations are gradually being depleted; all we have at LGW (and I dont mind being corrected) are MCO, Tampa and the Caribbean routes. How long will it be before these also move down to T5?

they added LGW-JFK last year as well

The LGW leisure routes will stay there for the medium term. There are neither enough slots at LHR nor spare capacity in T5 to move them over (T5 is now operating close to capacity). BA took advantage of Open Skies to move the LGW business-orientated routes to LHR, but Caribbean etc should remain at LGW at least until the 3rd runway opens.

Now that is concerning, if true. We're in a deep recession, BA traffic figures are seriously down, yet T5, portrayed as the holy grail for BA's future, is full? If that is true then BA's strategy is seriously flawed.

I think not.

Capacity is there. And more is coming with T5C.

T5, even with the 2 satellites, was never going to be adequate for all BA's growth needs. Hence their limited additional use of T3 which will probably grow over time. One proposal in the late 80s was for T 3 and T5 to be fully linked by a large cut and cover trench with underground people movers and backup walkways as well as transfer baggage belts and backup roadway for tug drawn trolleys so that in effect they were one terminal with 2 entrances,- one in Central area (T3) and the other in T5. One day something of that sort will happen but it would have bee cheaper and easier to do at the outset.

T5C will only add gates, not terminal capacity for all the passenger handling functions, which are already overloaded at many times, in particular security checks.

The combination of the extra distance of T5 from London, and the longer time taken getting through the terminal because all destinations are mixed together, must have made a considerable hit in BA's domestic carryings. We have several in our office who say that transferring to BMI on the Scotland routes now saves them half an hour or more each way to/from London.

Incorrect, almost all the gates at T5C are already in use with coaching to and from the stands. When T5C opens it will just eliminate a lot of coaching. It will barely increase capacity at all.

Are you aware that BA operate to a number of destinations from T3 because there is not enough space in T5? It has long been known that T5 would never be big enough able to handle the entire BA operation. An unfortunate consequence of the space constraints at LHR.

There is a lot of talk of extending the T5 transit system from T5C over to T3 - seems sensible with oneworld connections etc.

Oh come on, extra distance from London? All of about 2 minutes on the Hex. BA's domestic services are much more punctual than they used to be from T1, and more punctual than bmi's too. If it is such a big issue why are bmi downgrading domestic routes like ABZ to ERJs?

You are also ignoring the fact that a substantial proportion of BA's domestic pax are connecting onwards. Don't think they're going to be complaining that (virtually) all destinations are under one roof.

Chaps my apologies for suggesting T5C would add capacity. I meant people (which it should help with), not movements, and yes, I see that coaching to T5C stands is happening now.

What then is BA's strategy when the good times return? Moving flights from LGW will protect slots and save costs in the short term. But where then does the future growth come from? Not LHR, even with T3 integration. Not LGW no doubt. Madrid?

What rubbish! It's 5 minutes more and less tressfull than T1. Walking all the way through the old T1 international route to another scurity check is more of a pain.

BMI like all airlines is seriously struggling for revenue hence the size downgrading to ERJs (more to come i hear).
If you are to use heathrow then T5 outshines all the other terminals by a mile-shorthaul to longhaul transfers are a breeze and the baggage system is now up there with the best of them.

BBC NEWS | Business | BA to miss 2008 revenue targets

March passenger numbers 2.61 Million down by 8.2% - Easter in 2008 will impact on overall numbers.

Premium passengers down 13%, overall yields down by 6.4% and forecasting of a full year Operating loss of £150 million and this excludes £75 million severance payoffs.

Paid-off BA bosses get re-employed - mirror.co.uk

OK its from the Daily Mirror, but could be interesting for fuller investigation

I guess you guys don't actually do the journey much. What proportion of BA's outward domestic pax get to Heathrow on the HEx ? 2% ? When driving, the easiest way was into the Park One facility northside, then they shuttled you straight to the T1 door and the remaining distance was fairly short. No being mixed up with international passengers, no being forced to walk through a shopping centre.

Just because the HEx takes 2 mintes from starting from its platform at T123 to stopping at its platform at T5, doesn't mean the overall travel time is only up by 2 minutes. Even the Piccadilly Line only has half the number of its trains to T5 compared to the numbers that used to go to T1.

WHBM it was T1 / 2 / 3 known as Heathrow Central, not just T1. You are being misleading. I might remind you that flying through T1 now means you ARE forced to go through the shopping centre that is the International Dep lounge as domestic search was removed. There is now another security check after security before you are allowed access to the old domestic pier. It's just as long a walk as T5 mate.

You are hardly walking 'through' the shopping area in T1 to get to domestic departures. I always manage to quickly brush past WH Smith and then I am out of the shopping jungle! I have never been forced to go through the shopping area!

T1 is at times, far easier than T5, providing you know where you are going!

The second security check at T1 is done at T5 for domestic departures as well. However since you are already at the gate when this is done at T5, then perhaps we don't associate that wait as being linked to security since we are waiting at the gate anyway!

And T1 has a smaller taxi time to the runways that are the most used, 27L, 27R. So the odd minute gained at T5 can be lost in the 20 minute line of a/c you will be in before take off.

6

used T5 3 times, In all cases there was no queue for take off and a very small taxi time compared to when BA was at T1.