BA uses its new BMI slots at Heathrow, not for emerging economies, but largely leisure destinations. As usual.
BA got 42 daily Heathrow slots from taking over BMI. And it said very publicly, in March, that it would be using these to fly to the emerging economies – in Asia, Africa and Latin America – which is part of the myth that the aviation industry is peddling at present. So what are the slots actually being used for? One flight per day to Seoul. The rest are domestic UK (Aberdeen Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, Leeds Bradford), or Zagreb, Las Vegas, Barcelona, Marseilles, Phoenix, Zurich and Bologna – with more flights to some. So that is where the money is. So much for the allegedly desperate need for slots to fly to second tier Chinese cities. This really proves what a lot of misleading PR is being put out by BAA and the airlines at Heathrow.
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Bmi Purchase Boosts British Airways Domestic Services From Winter 2012
June 27th, 2012 (BA press release)
British Airways’ winter 2012 schedule is unveiled today. Highlights include:
· Great news for the UK regions as British Airways increases number of seats to Scotland by 32% (versus its winter 2011 schedule) and begins flying between London City and Aberdeen, Heathrow and Leeds Bradford, and Heathrow and Belfast
· British Airways returns to the Isle of Man
· New routes from London Heathrow to Seoul and Zagreb
· New routes from London Gatwick to Las Vegas and Barcelona
· Bologna and Marseille flights move from Gatwick to Heathrow
· Increased frequency on numerous routes
The UK regions are set to benefit from British Airways’ new winter schedule, which begins on October 28, 2012 thanks to parent company IAG’s purchase of bmi.
The airline will add extra frequencies and use bigger aircraft on flights to Scotland enabling it to offer nearly 27,000 more seats a week between London and Scotland. This includes two extra flights a day between London Heathrow and Edinburgh and two extra flights per day between Heathrow and Aberdeen.
In addition British Airways is also starting a three-per-day service between London City and Aberdeen on September 24 to connect the two business hubs.
From December 9, British Airways will start four flights per day between Heathrow and Leeds Bradford, connecting Yorkshire with the airline’s extensive global route network at Heathrow and increasing consumer choice in the North of England. The airline has already taken over bmi’s six daily flights to Belfast, and will be launching a new timetable of seven flights a day between London and the Northern Irish capital on October 28.
A new London City to Isle of Man route has also recently launched.
At the time of EU approval for the bmi deal, IAG committed to launching new flights to important trading nations and delivering on that, British Airways is to begin flying six times a week to Seoul in South Korea from December 2.
A brand new, thrice weekly service from London Gatwick to Las Vegas starts on October 29.
In Europe, Zagreb in Croatia will benefit from new daily flights to Heathrow from December 9, six flights a week to Venice will be added to the London City route network on September 17 and a new three-per-day service from London Gatwick to Barcelona will launch on February 23, 2013.
From October 28, former bmi routes from London Heathrow to Agadir, Bergen and Stavanger will become new British Airways routes from Terminal 5, while former bmi routes Belfast and Hanover will become new British Airways Terminal 1 routes.
British Airways aircraft and crew will operate these routes, and customers will receive the full-service airline’s on-board experience.
A number of existing British Airways routes including Basel, Dusseldorf, Luxembourg, Lyon and Toulouse will move from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1 on October 28.
There will be an increase in frequencies in winter 2012 (versus winter 2011) from Heathrow to Aberdeen (from six to eight flights per day), Edinburgh (from 10 to 12 flights a day), Manchester (from 10 to 11 flights a day), Oslo (from four to five flights per day), Zurich (from six to seven per day) and Phoenix (from six to seven flights per week). Flights to Bologna will be consolidated at Heathrow, with an increase in frequency on the existing Heathrow service from seven per week to 21 per week.
At Gatwick, services will increase to Faro (from four to five flights per week), Malaga (from seven to ten flights per week) and Marrakech (three to seven flights per week) from October 28, and extra services will be added to Salzburg and Turin for the winter ski season. Flights to Marseille will move from Gatwick to Heathrow on October 28.
Due to the volume of changes being made to British Airways’ network for winter 2012, the changes will go on sale on ba.com in stages over the next few days and further route announcements will be made next month.
Keith Williams, British Airways’ CEO, said: “bmi’s integration into British Airways is really enabling us to grow our network as we promised, giving customers more flights to destinations we know they want to fly to.
“We’re focusing on new routes such as Seoul, Leeds Bradford and Zagreb, more flights to popular destinations and creating more connections for the UK regions to our global network of flying.”
Back in April, BA said it “will target emerging markets including Asia, Africa and Latin America.”
see
British Airways plans two phases to bring bmi, and its London Heathrow slots, to profitability
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Comment from an AirportWatch member:
Quote: “At the time of EU approval for the bmi deal, IAG committed to
launching new flights to important trading nations and delivering on
that, British Airways is to begin flying six times a week to Seoul in
South Korea from December 2.”
OK I can accept that – but what about the rest of the slots. I hadn’t
appreciated that Zagreb was a major business centre in the BRIC
grouping.
See also