Big deal flying a mini-bus into London City Airport?

[TowerDog]

https://www.facebook.com/AvionsdeFrancois/videos/700399783475547/

[Chesty Morgan]

No, not really. ;)

[TowerDog]

Didn't think so.
Nice weather and all.
I should get a medal for for flying jumbos to Quito at night and max landing weight in the rain compared to this Lady.
Forgot to bring my go-pro video camera, damn.:sad:

[etudiant]

The margins for error are smaller than usual here.
That calls for informed judgment, does the benefit in terms of convenience offset the increased risk. In an analogous case here in the US, the then FAA administrator decided that NYC La Guardia airport was unsuitable for wide bodied jets. London City Airport may be similarly inadequate for routine operations of conventional jetliners.
Can anyone provide a more in depth perspective on the issue?

[chuboy]

But is LCY really the most challenging approach in BA's route network?

[TowerDog]

Bombay in the moonson season perhaps?

[_Phoenix]

Aviation is only safer when landing is just a sweet routine, in any conditions. For CSeries LCY is a walk in a park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkOSe7gZLPI

[stilton]

'One of only 27 Captains' qualified to fly into LCY'


Isn't that because they don't need any more ?


You're not landing on the moon dear..

[Capt Fathom]

The video was produced by British Airways, so I guess it is aimed more at the general public as a promotional piece.

[Wycombe]

One of the 318's will apparently be making an appearance at Blackbushe at the beginning of July (part of EGLK's 75th Birthday event (Blackbushe 75 | (http://www.blackbushe75.com/))

[Hotel Tango]

The video was produced by British Airways, so I guess it is aimed more at the general public as a promotional piece.

Exactly. Sadly that seems to have escaped TowerDog! :hmm:

[TowerDog]

Exactly. Sadly that seems to have escaped TowerDog! :hmm:

Nah, I did not think it was for flight training, too much drama and B.S, but thanks for thinking of me.

[Wycombe]

One of the 318's will apparently be making an appearance at Blackbushe at the beginning of July

Apparently one of the 318's has left the fleet this week (no longer needed I guess due reduced LCY-JFK schedule) so the above no longer happening either.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Out of interest, has there been such a reduction in passenger numbers to cause the reduced schedule ? I'd have thought the financial world would've kept that route in clover ad infinitum.

[stilton]

Any chance of BA picking up a couple of CS100'S to operate LCY-JFK non stop ?

[crewmeal]

I wonder how the service will do if Trump bans laptops, iPads etc going over to JFK? Perhaps clearing immigration at SNN will still be key to keeping the route.

[Wycombe]

Out of interest, has there been such a reduction in passenger numbers to cause the reduced schedule ?

The word I read on another thread is that a large Corporate client stopped using the route.

[Denti]

Any chance of BA picking up a couple of CS100'S to operate LCY-JFK non stop ?

Only for that limited service? I seriously doubt it. No cross-qualification with the rest of the shorthaul fleet for the crew, no part commonality either, which means that the cost of that service would skyrocket.

[jijpc]

Apparently one of the 318's has left the fleet this week (no longer needed I guess due reduced LCY-JFK schedule) so the above no longer happening either.

According to Jethros G-EUNB is being acquired by Titan. It positioned to Cambridge for maintenance recently.

I have used the service to JFK and I thought it was excellent. One if the key plus points is that you go through US customs at Shannon and therefore arrival at JFK is simple and quick. This only applies to the morning service. As a result the afternoon service did not have the same appeal as there was still a refuelling stop, hence its decline as it would be quicker from one of the other London airports.

[DaveReidUK]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the remaining A318 follow.

Operating a single-aircraft fleet is a risky operation, and BA's target LCY/JFK market isn't one that will take kindly to last-minute cancellations when the aircraft goes tech with absolutely no prospect of bringing in a substitute.

[Mister Geezer]

Flight International - Titan to acquire all premium A318 from BA (https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/titan-to-acquire-all-premium-a318-from-ba-436803/)

There is an interesting article on the reducing load factor on this service in this weeks Flight International as well. It stated that the non stop return sector was more popular than the outbound due to the stop in SNN and that loads on the outbound leg were around half full in the months prior to the axing of one of the two schedules. The loads seem have steadily declined since the route started.

[WHBM]

The word I read on another thread is that a large Corporate client stopped using the route.
They (a well known major bank) haven't stopped using the route, but they did an initial long term purchase agreement for a percentage of the seats, which actually bankrolled (pardon the pun) the initial purchase of the aircraft and the setup costs. That agreement has come to an end, and their requirement to travel between the two centres has reduced. It did, towards the end, cause an element of dissatisfaction for those bank staff who lived west of London (as a goodly number do, commuting in daily to Canary Wharf via Waterloo station and the Underground), to have to go all the way in to LCY for the morning departure rather than using Heathrow, just to keep the numbers up on what had been committed to.

Both A318s are still active, they seem to do alternate months on the single rotation.

I've probably witnessed many hundreds of touchdowns at LCY by various types (including a couple by my long-ago PPL instructor !) and in various conditions, they all seem to come straight down the line. We probably have more go-arounds than places elsewhere, but it's all a straightforward operation.

As a result the afternoon service did not have the same appealActually it did, among the users. The staff who used the service tended to be those of greater seniority, who lived out in nice houses in the Home Counties rather than the flats around Canary Wharf. Thus it was a nuisance, along the lines described above, to pack and come in to the office for just an hour or so before heading to the airport. The afternoon flight allowed a good day's work/meetings/trip preparation before heading off. For the morning flight, by the time you got from JFK to Wall Street, things were coming to an end for the day there, given the US office propensity to both start and finish notably earlier than in the UK (many are in by 7am but gone by 4.30pm),

[DaveReidUK]

Both A318s are still active, they seem to do alternate months on the single rotation.

See previous posts about the reduction of the fleet to one aircraft.