Originally Posted by
dynamiteReady
Was on a BA flight, LHR to VCE yesterday... It was rammed. One of the busiest flights I can remember taking. Just about every seat was taken. It was like a Ryanair flight. A summary can be found here, of your interested:
https://quixical.com/channel/66056c1...c82ed/messages
They're probably operating at a loss overall, but if airlines have to book slots at certain airports to avoid losing them (which I'd read was a common practice, somewhere), and are making more money than usual on other flights (packed flights in Europe), then there might be some logic in doing what the OP has observed.
Pure speculation though, I'll admit.
I mean, weren't all BA's flights full in August last year, so it was like a 'normal' August BA flight?
Pretty sure the summer slot waiver covers the world, and likely to be extended into winter too, so no need for airlines to fly slots just to retain them at the moment. I imagine that all the tourist traffic has diverted away from France / Spain and is focussed on Italy / Greece, hence the super high seat factors.
Otherwise, I think at Q2 results, WW said that a lot of flights are 'cash positive' just carrying the cargo, and self loading freight is a bonus. In fact, here is his quote from the IAG website:
"So the fact that we're seeing good, strong cargo demand has enabled us to operate passenger flights that without the cargo would be cash negative. So all of the flights that we're operating at the moment are positive from a cash point of view. And therefore, we have a very detailed matrix, if you like, that enables us to assess the cash contribution of any and all flying that we do, and we will apply that as we go through the third quarter"