London Airways

[pwalhx]

I will start by apologising in case I am asking something that has been discussed before. However I am arelatively new member so have never seen this topic addressed.

I have for many years never understood British Airways's attitude to the regions with regard to long haul service. I confess my particular interest is with Manchester, where apart from the token New York service, there seems to be little interest in long haul.

I know the general view is they want everyone to use the shuttle to London but why?

Other airlines seem to be able to make a success of long haul flights from Manchester why cant BA. There constant cry is there is no demand for such a service. And this mantra has put paid to applications from overseas carriers before because of BA's objections to route apllications.

At least BMI seem now to have realised the potential, but again would they if they had access to Heathrow.

Other carrriers such as AF and LH seem happy to fly long hall from the likes of Marseille, Lyon, Munich etc. Why are we British so different.

I am interested in other peoples views.

[AUTOGLIDE]

I wouldn't worry about it, BMI plus plenty of foreign carriers flying short and longhaul into MAN, and as far as i know the loads are good. I don't even consider the BA shuttle and transiting at LHR because it's too much hassle, and can usually fly direct from MAN, or if not al least transit somewhere civilised like DXB/CDG etc. In fact i've pretty much forgotten BA exist at all. :ok:

[CargoOne]

In fact I don't see any AF longhaul scheduled services ex MRS or LYS.

The main question is how many longhaul *daily* destinations with point-to-point passengers MAN can support for BA?

[pwalhx]

With the One world alliance does the route have to be point to point i.e. such s as BD into ORD linking into UA network.

[CargoOne]

pwalhx

What's the difference then? You can fly BA or AA ex MAN to almost everywhere in USA with one connection.

[jabird]

pwalhx,

I can't remember the name for it, but there is a marked difference in the population structure of countries like the UK / France / Denmark, where one city dominates the country - the populations of London or Paris are greater than the combined populations of the next three cities, hence it will always be a complaint from the regions that they are underserved. Add to this the critical mass effect, that it becomes easier to add frequency from the main hub, than to take the risk of developing new services.

Then you have to consider the costs of setting up a long haul hub when none exists - much easier to let foreign carriers come in and operate the service.

re: France - the only long haul transatlantic non Paris service I'm aware of is a daily summer only DL 767 JFK to Nice - that is codeshared with Air France, but not operated by them. I believe an airline did try Toulouse / Nantes to EWR, but can't remember the name.

Germany is a totally different ball game, where several cities are important for different regions - FRA being the main hub, geographical and financial centre, but certainly not the largest city by any means. LH are developing a second hub at MUC, hence the much wider range of flight options.

[CargoOne]

And the capital and biggest city of Germany (Berlin) don't have longhaul services at all apart from seasonal charters.

[jabird]

Didn't CO try a daily service, I think pre 9/11?

Also, DUS serves one of the most populous regions in Europe - the Rhine/Ruhr connurbation, yet what do they get - a poxy daily service to EWR in an economy only A319!

[pwalhx]

Thanks all, I knew I would get some informed comments, and I take all your informationa on board, you have identified areas I had not considered. As always everyone is very helpfull on here.

[CargoOne]

jabird

I think LH once started BER-NYC but cancelled shortly afterwards.

If you referring to DUS-EWR LH service operated by PrivatAir, the A319 (actually ACJ) there is all-business config...

[zed3]

jabird.....and there's also a similar daily service fro Dusseldorf to Chicago . Then there are the LTU year round services which also have First Comfort (business cabin) to lots of dests - USA , South Africa , China , Mexico , etc. etc . Not a bad little airport DUS .

[jabird]

Oops, sorry, getting my codes mixed up, I should know better.