Paxboy, IATA will argue they are already developing new standards. However, the NDC program has been running since 2012 and the idea was around for a while before that!

Asturias56

The software that BA uses for tracking aircraft, crew, sourcing weather info, logging departures etc (FICO) was introduced in the 70s and is still a key part of the operation today.

Allegedly (and I can’t find any evidence for this other than rumour & hearsay) it’s a derivative of British Rail’s TOPS system, which itself dates to the 60s.

A friend of mine who is a high level software development manger still finds companies who say they want to progress their applications into the new generation of softare, so as to gain the obvious economies of lower cost and greater reliability. They start off saying that they want to do the migration in 18 months and maintain the old system till complete. He worked for one company who, after three years still could not let go of the old COBOL system, so he left.

Countless mangers of even small, easily understood, companies - do not know the importance of migrating to new platforms and making things simpler. For international corporates - it is the greatest challenge that they cannot grasp. As I said, I do feel sorry for them because, as Hartington so ably illustrates, the complexity and inter-working is fearsome.

BA CityFlyer return to GCI (again)
 

They are obviously hoping to cash in on the staycation 'boom', fingers crossed the routes a success & they stay on longer than September From London City Guernsey – launching on 25th June, two flights per week on Monday and Friday From Edinburgh Guernsey – launching on 25th June, two flights per week on Monday and Friday.

If FICO came from TOPS, TOPS came from the Southern Pacific in the USA!

FICO = "Flight Information & Control of Operations", IIRC.

Terminals with jazzy multicoloured keyboards.

Cityflyer to GCI Hmmmmm ?? Not sure if this will even get off the ground. Who's going to handle them, only ground handling agents are Aurigny who will surly charge them a fortune seeing as they will be in competition with them on London routes. And with no end in sight to unrestricted travel to Guernsey who would actually book flights at the moment to the island

A somewhat negative response. Almost as if you have a vested interest in GR and would not welcome the competition.

AUR are effectively owned and bankrolled by the States Govt, so if they want BACF to bring pax to the island then they will surely have to provide the required services (and at a price that makes it viable)

In the current environment with staycations being more popular than ever this year surely it is more beneficial to Guernsey to have as many people as possible visiting their island this summer and boosting the coffers? It would be a bit Nose Spite Face IMO to charge extortionate fees to BACF for this summer. I doubt they will be back when normal times return!

All these we niche routes could turn into real money spinners as people discover alternatives to the mainstream normal destinations

This is a low frequency, short season operation. I am sure all airlines are looking for opportunities to develop routes & get back towards profitability, once this pandemic ends. This development is all part of BAW's attempt to achieve this. I wish it well & very much hope that they will achieve their aim. They may make money on these routes , but not a lot. Apart from operating the services, there needs to be a big expansion of holiday accommodation in Guernsey in order to satisfy possible tourist demand during the period that "staycations" are in demand; however long that may be. Guernsey cannot afford to turn business away for whatever reason.

"there needs to be a big expansion of holiday accommodation in Guernsey i"

and how is that a going to happen - they can't build anything new in the time so you're dependent on people opening up their houses etc

Exactly ! That is the point that I was making. If Guernsey wants to expand the number of visitors that it gets, then it has to provide somewhere for them to stay. Otherwise, all the new routes that might be operated, will not result in appreciable increases & profits for the airlines that operate them. The same applies to Jersey; with the slight exception that there are an extra 45,000 island residents to serve, too.

On my visits to Guernsey in recent years, cabbies would always point out the hotels that have closed down. I think there's only a fraction of the hotel beds on the island that there were in the 70's and 80's.

This announcment has appeared in several places. Can someone explain the last paragraph to me?

"British Airways is beefing up its short haul schedules to European sunshine hotspots with nearly 100,000 extra seats for summer.

More than 93,000 new seats are up for grabs on flights from Tuesday 11 May to 13 summer destinations.

It includes 10 Greek holiday hotspots, two destinations in the Canary Islands and one in Turkey.

It is due to overwhelming interest shown in summer holidays .

The new services are for June and July onwards, in response to interest as more destinations are likely added to the green list for quarantine-free travel.

The 26 additional weekly frequencies will include Corfu, Kos, Paphos, Rhodes, Lanzarote, Tenerife and Bodrum.

The newly established flights to Greece and the Canary Islands are available to book now for travel between 21 June and 5 September over the peak summer period.

Bodrum in Turkey will also be available to fly to from 18 July.

Neil Chernoff, British Airways' Director of Networks and Alliances said: "It's clear Britons are hoping that their favourite destinations will be open by the time summer comes. We want to provide them with access to book seats and trust that if they can't travel, we will be there for them with flexibility to make changes to their bookings."

British Airways is currently flying to 27 short-haul destinations, including 112 holiday hotspots for the peak summer period."

"British Airways is currently flying to 27 short-haul destinations, including 112 holiday hotspots for the peak summer period"

27 Airports serving 112 resorts

So fortress LHR not working anymore ?

If the current weather pattern in the UK persists for much of the summer (and most of the world continues to be in a good place with covid) then I would suspect a strong 2022, one expensive staycation in the rain may be enough for most brits.

FredFlintstone

Did you miss the global pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions? It doesn’t matter where your hub is if your Government bans most forms of travel you’re not going to be operating many flights.