Originally Posted by
smilinganddialing
So much for winning transit business to Asia. AY is missing a strong opportunity here given how uncompetitive BA is on pricing between US - Asia and basically giving all OW traffic to QR.
AY isn't trying to win business traffic between the US and Asia, they're after passengers going between the EU and Asia... Most passengers flying US>EU and EU>Asia prefer overnight flights for practical reasons, that results in morning arrivals and evening departures from HEL. BA charges a premium to transit Europe enroute to Asia because it involves more flights and a higher operating cost, transiting HEL instead of LHR is even less efficient.
CX, JL and AA provide enough oneworld capacity between the US and Asia that transiting Europe, much less eastern Europe is unnecessary.