citiflyerUK

BA Cityflyer will launch Milan Linate from LCY and STN. Twice daily from LCY and twice a week from STN.

http://mediacentre.britishairways.co.../8263?ref=Home

Up against Alitalia from LCY. Isn't this the second attempt at Milan by BA from LCY?

BA6948

Yes the second attempt. Not sure LIN will work if MAD didn't.

pbdj11

Only 2 economy reward seats seem to have been released when looking at any dates I've looked at for flights from LCY- is this a mistake? I thought there were meant to be at least 4 econ, 2 business reward seats on each flight these days?

AlicorporateUK

AZ has 5 (down to 3 at weekends) LCY-LIN-LCY daily services and I doubt it's just a mere (yet profitable) point-to-point, mainly considering the substantial [AZ] domestic network from LIN. Good news for BA/OW flyers nonetheless - certainly a welcome addition to the current LHR-MXP/LIN services.

G

msm2000uk

LCY-LIN
Late lunch at Paper Moon
Spot of shopping
Drinks at the Four Seaons
LIN-LCY

All in a days work

M

FlyerTalker39574

I have been on the AZ service LCY-LIN-LCY, never been more than half full, Flying Blue redemption availability is generally good, BA won't succeed.

Dan72

I am sure that BA's pockets are deeper than AZ and this may also be about squeezing AZ, ie LCY competition. Plus BAEC members, probably the largest group of LCY FF flyers, will prefer BA.

FlyerTalker39574

Isn't the 'squeezing competition' funding allocated to Norwegian long haul at Gatwick ?

Kgmm77

Bucks the recent trend of bucket and spade route launches from LCY, but looks odd in the context of BCN, ARN & MAD falling away plus some of the German business destinations.

obduro

Interesting development and a good option to start my next ex-EU given the decent fares out of LIN...

flatlander

I'm sure BA wouldn't mind giving a death hug to both AZ and Norwegian if they could, and AZ's been feeble for a long time.

FrancisA

Not sure why or how you draw that conclusion.

I am very familiar with the BA routes to Milan having flown there over 60 times in the last 15 years. MXP and LIN are the jewels in BA's crown for Italy and indeed top tier European routes.

On LIN-LHR flights 12 or more full rows of CE are not uncommon. Much of this may be connecting traffic and AZ did BA a favour by cutting many long haul services from Milan and focusing instead on FCO as a hub. However large CE cabins is not a daytime phenomenon - last flights can have large cabins too, meaning connecting traffic is not all if the business. Loads and fares are high.

Over the years the cost of CE returns have gone up disproportionately for MXP and LIN particularly. Outside a sale LHR-LIN return in CE will exceed £500.

BA obviously know the type of passengers in this route. I suspect that a fair few are O&D business pax from the financial services industry flying CE and commuting between City and Milan offices.

This is ideal market for LCY flights, taking some pressure off LHR services. Ex-MIL has been more expensive than previously probably due to lack of capacity from Milan to LHR.

This is good news for me and I suspect BA too.

AlicorporateUK

It is indeed - a quick look at the number of flights (~16 daily services between MXP/LIN and FRA/MUC) of the other big player (LH, clearly) is probably enough to understand the prevalent connecting nature of ex-MIL passenger traffic, lacking a robust home carrier.

G

JPMND

Happy with this as the timings are very decent. Booked LHR-LIN-LCY for the Italian GP with my inbound getting me in for work Monday morning instead of having to trek across town from Heathrow and probably take a half day.

FlyerTalker39574

LIN-LHR and MXP-LHR flights have many connection possibilities at LHR, there are far fewer at LCY, demand profiles are not the same,