Crew&Management Gossip [New route LHR-TPE-PER]
 

I have now had this suggested from 2 different sources (one crew member and one management analyst) that BA are looking at expanding into Asia and that the next destination should be TPE, with a tag-along PER, once daily.

Apparently TPE would not have enough traffic, so PER will deliver some through traffic on LHR-TPE-PER. Also, the plan is to use 787-1000 on this route, but might have to use something else before those beauties are delivered in early 2019.

I hope this is true! I have been waiting for BA to start flying to Perth again and Taipei is a really nice city. I love the night markets

Mrs Castle would like this too as she finds it a pain having to get off at HKG

Not sure that you'd be able to stay on the plane in TPE - can you do that in SIN to SYD?

Presumably MH has the KUL-PER market sewn up; otherwise LHR-KUL-PER would be 1k miles shorter than LHR-TPE-PER.

I can't imagine that PER-TPE would have enough traffic in itself. So that means they plan to fly semi full planes between these cities?

I understand what BA is after is entering TPE market, as they see big growth potential there and are adding PER because they need to get some through traffic because presumably LHR-TPE or LHR-PER by itself would not have enough traffic.

Wow great news if true - after years of reduced services to Oz. Am I right in thinking there used to be twice daily to SYD and once to MEL ? All 747s ?

I agree, but I understand BA thinks there is a demand for PER-LHR, which should fill in enough of the plane to make the complement of PER-TPE and separately TPE-LHR viable, so they can enter TPE market without making it too big a risk.

It would be quite an odd one. LHR-TPE-MEL would seem to make more sense as it's much more 'on the way':

LHR-PER = 9,009 mi
LHR-TPE-PER = 10,027 mi = 11.3% diversion

whereas
LHR-MEL = 10,503 mi
LHR-TPE-MEL = 10,671 mi = only 1.6% diversion

ETA: Having said that, I see there are no existing TPE-PER flights, whereas China Airlines fly TPE-MEL (with QF codeshare), so I guess BA may be attracted by a monopoly route.

I was certainly puzzled by the choice, but someone at BA must have ran the numbers and made sense of tagging PER rather then MEL after TPE.

And this rumour is just that: gossip.

Don't know the routes well, but could it be there is more competition in MEL (being closer to SYD and all), so yields could be better from PER.

That's not what I have heard, this one is just goussip.

What have you heard CIHY ;)

I suspect so. I doubt that whoever is in charge of studying potential new routes happen to share their thought with crew members anyway, and even when new routes are considered, the approval chain will be complex, long, and uncertain. The fact that BA happens to still need to figure out what exactly Brexit will mean to the business and will need to wait months if not years to have some sense about those effects will do nothing to simplify that approval process when it comes to any form of risky expansion.