Long Haul schedules

[NWSRG]

Folks,

Can anyone explain why some airlines seem to run pairs of long haul flights close together? Thinking of SAA's two early morning Heathrow arrivals both from J'burg, or BA's pairs from Hong Kong and Singapore. Seems that they are less than one hour apart in each case. Would it not make sense to offer more choice through the day instead?

[Brookmans Park]

Not knowing the operators concerned I can only hazard
a guess, which is that it is a combination of the a/c and crew patterns and the associated time zone changes and rest periods

[Fright Level]

It's down to passenger demand combined with landing restrictions at London. BA have tried a daylight service back from Joburg, but it didn't get many takers. The airline would prefer to get the planes into the air and not hang around all day in HKG, SIN or JNB, but it is all down to passenger demand.

Heathrow generally has a 6am landing restriction, so most night flights from Africa and the Far East are scheduled to arrive just after this with the exception of the few that have night slots.

Rod