srbrenna

...which shows that LHR-LBA traffic is up 20% year on year. I'm doing it again on Saturday so I can confirm. Jolly useful route.

srbrenna

Er, no I'm not. The flight has just been cancelled.

rapidex

There is no chance of BA getting traffic rights to operate YVR-HNL-YVR.Neither the Canadians nor the US will allow BA to pick up or drop pax in YVR.

srbrenna

Apparently there is no crew available. It seems this route is doomed. Not because the pax don't want to fly it but because the crew don't.

rapidex

Except the Australian government will not permit BA to operate domestic flights.

Calchas

LHR-LBA? Come on, that must be the most popular route in the roster.

I have a couple of those coming up next week so I'll report back if they get cancelled.

Globaliser

Is there something special about this route?

Or is there something special about YVR-JFK-YVR, which can be travelled on a oneworld airline that is neither Canadian nor American.

TPJ

SCL is an obvious choice. Sky Team is a marginal player in Chile, but both AF and DL maintain the SCL flights - so obviously they make some money there...

makin'miles

I'm not sure there is...

The Canada-EU air services agreement seems to permit operation of flights by an EU airline from an EU airport to a point in Canada and then to a point beyond. I'm no expert, but that sounds like LHR-YVR-HNL.

See Annex 1 of: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/..._agreement.pdf

I'm nearly positive the Canada-US bilateral agreement also permits these sorts of operations, as Air Canada had planned to launch a YYZ-LAX-SYD several years back, but were prevented from doing so by the Australian - not US - government.

The question is then whether the US-UK agreement permits this, and again my read is that it does: http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/othr/ata/e/eu/114768.htm (see "Article 3: Grant of Rights").

Perhaps someone with more expertise than I could chime in, but I'm fairly sure the airline rights are in place to permit such an operation.

gw76

Always suspicious of "20%" increases on the CAA stats. Its so variable with how dates land, previous year cancellations and aircraft types. Would be surprised if such a jump is a true reflection of a sudden demand

Seat64A

Odd, that. (BA used to fly 757s Toronto-JFK-Toronto.)

Seat64A

Interesting that you mention LGW. Western flew LGW-ANC-HNL some years ago; the service did not last long. (The fact that Western were using DC10-10s may have meant payload restrictions, which would have compounded problems arising from disappointing loads.)

Chugach

BP is big in Alaska, but I can't imagine there's enough corporate traffic going to London to sustain a nonstop ANC-LON flight. If BA wants HNL, they'd be better off routing through Canada (YVR or YYC would seem most likely in my estimation).

shorthauldad

Don't forget LHR-HKG-SYD, which is apparently only 2mi (!) longer than the direct flight

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=lhr-syd...yd,lhr-bkk-syd

irishguy28

I didn't intend for BA to break the law. BA passengers bound for SYD (or anywhere else in Australia) can transfer to Qantas/Jetstar flights! (that's why I said "connection" in my post)