JerseyPilot

it did but it was only to clear a 3 day backlog of fog stranded pax.

PGberkshire

Which is why A321 LR/XLR can be game changers for shorter long haul routes.

Nephoi

or less frequent ones. especially to smaller cities in NA. in the other direction the A321LR/XLR could lead to routes like PHL-MAN, JFK-MAN other plenty of other routes ex PHL, NYC, BOS, WAS to smaller cities without any direct routings like BER, HAM, BSL, EDI....
sounds promising.

sammyg901

Having a look at the Saturday schedule for July I could imagine perhaps something like the 8am Palma and/or Malaga being subbed to A350, especially if the US market opens up as they'll have heavy local and connecting demand at that time. A quick Spanish rotation should fit between an IAD or a PHL, Aer Lingus do the same

As others have said there is actually little to be gained seats wise vs an A321 and you need more crew/fuel, so it'd need to be high yield fares on very full flights so maybe tactical subs on v full flights rather than a series scheduled in advance

SHT88T

My my rough calculations, the A35K does indeed make most sense on some of the higher density routes, particularly those that might need 2 x A320’s in quick succession.

eg. Lets say Malaga at peak summer ends up needing an A320 at 0700 and 0800 to meet demand. Its probably safe bet to say that route is very likely to have 54 Club passengers per flight.

Consolidating that to a single A35K @ 0730 could accommodate 112 ‘Premium’ seats across J and W. There would be a short fall in Y but I imagine there will be no need to sell bargain basement fares to Spain once we are allowed to travel again so that can be offset.

2x A320’s will burn around the same amount of fuel as 1 x A35K. With no discounted fares and 112 ‘CE’ seats filled, it could easily work.

If EI can make these types of routes work with A330, BA can certainly do the same with a more efficient A35K if they have the will, the crews and the demand.

SonicStar817

Well not quite. You haven't factored CE into the equation for the A321neo which would reduce its capacity by 20 or so seats depending on curtain location.

Confus

EI ‘made it work’ because those were the aircraft they had available. The economics are changed if you’ve got an expensive asset sitting on the ground and no access to alternatives. The chances of BA not having shorthaul Airbus aircraft sitting around available this summer are next to non-existent - even if there’s a huge uptick in demand it won’t jump straight back to the entire schedule of old. So if you had a choice of 1 x 777 or 2 x A321, you’d probably pick the latter, except in a few very niche circumstances. If you have 1 x A330 vs 0 x A321, you make a different choice.

sammyg901

Yes agree. That's why I only foresee it happening if it's an adhoc upsize on the odd peak day last minute where 100 extra seats could be sold but not 200, crew availability, that kind of thing. I don't see them being short of A320s or slots being an issue at either end on the key routes. ]

Have to remember as well demand will still be tempered - a lot of people just aren't planning to travel this year, already booked a staycation etc. Easyjet, Ryanair, Wizzair etc if they were so minded could dump a huge amount of capacity in (Easyjet already are - they're running 11x London-Palma on the Sunday 25th July for example at some very reasonable fares )

SKRan

321LR/XLR and Boeing NMA could be great for a new MAN base to leisure destinations. Legacy BMI routes maybe.

ozflier

I wonder if BA, assuming larger aircraft do start being used for short and medium haul routes, will use them on the longer routes ( eg AMM ,CAI and IST) particularly when the direct competition ( eg TK going to IST) offer much better seating and catering. Similarly for LHR-AMM.

1Aturnleft

Particularly in the case of AMM and CAI, the routes have only just gone to being a short haul service at the end of October 2020 and with a fare reduction to go along with the move from a Worldwide to Euro service. Unless something dramatically changes in the type of tickets being purchased, yields of said tickets and cargo uplift on the routes affected then it's highly unlikely to revert anytime soon.

Jagboi

BA's problem is their long haul aircraft are very premium seating heavy, so the total capacity isn't that much of a jump over a 321 short haul. It would be a different story if they had densified long haul aircraft. As an example some BA 777's are 299 passengers, while Air Canada has 777's that seat 458.

gliderpilot

that’s it in a nutshell. It would be interesting though to see how much they might recoup through £50 upgrade offers for the longer short haul routes. You might get a few takers if you sold PE as CW then marketed ‘upgrade to a lie flat bed’. Particularly people on holiday who may be willing to spend the extra.

Genius1

Utilisation of widebody aircraft on European routes will also be influenced by cargo opportunities.

13901

Well a A350 in BA config holds 331 people, the old (and supremely clapped-out) and the Gatters 3-class 336. They could be used for a flight to Tenerife or Alicante or wherever they feel like on short haul. Even the clapped out 3-class ones that used to be on EZE could be used: they hold 275 people and it's impossible than any boozy flight to Malaga can ruin them more than they already are.