Is British Airways really just London Airways?
Jun 26, 2019, 1:01 am
#1
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 113
Is British Airways really just London Airways?
Does anyone know if BA have plane to expand their services outside of London?
Sure I don’t mind getting to London or connecting at Heathrow to go long haul. I do find it really annoying though that the only options I have out of of Manchester are often Ryan Air.
BA’s offering these days is super if you live in London, but up north/scotland/wales, BA’s offering is pathetic
Sure I don’t mind getting to London or connecting at Heathrow to go long haul. I do find it really annoying though that the only options I have out of of Manchester are often Ryan Air.
BA’s offering these days is super if you live in London, but up north/scotland/wales, BA’s offering is pathetic
Jun 26, 2019, 1:07 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
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Ba have a handful of weekend services from MAN and some subsidiary services from other stations (eg logs air from Scottish airports etc) but is otherwise London based. It’s been like that for well over a decade though so I’m not sure about ‘these days’ and there are no known plans to change either.
Jun 26, 2019, 1:24 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Perth WA/ UK
Programs: BA Gold, Priority Club Gold, Accor Silver, Virgin Australia Gold
Posts: 1,750
Very much London based for quite a while. Never made the region's work particularly well. Would have no chance now even if they wanted to with Ryanair, easyJet and even Flybe having such regional holds. It's either via London for BA metal from the regionals. Interestingly it could be argued KLM have for a long time sensed this as good option to fly regional pax via AMS hence you will see that KLM fly from many of the UK regionals quite successfully to their Dutch hub.i think their Norwich Amsterdam flying time is under 30 mins.
Jun 26, 2019, 1:49 am
#5
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: London
Programs: BA LtG, Flying Blue Plat
Posts: 274
I’ve moved to the Cotswolds in the past year, and about 80% of my flying has moved to AF/KL/LH. Even though LHR is only a 1h30 drive it’s still not worth going there for BA unless flying to the US. The regional options from BHX/BRS going East are second to none.
Feeder flights are well timed and usually full to bursting, so they’re doing something right.
Feeder flights are well timed and usually full to bursting, so they’re doing something right.
Jun 26, 2019, 2:17 am
#8
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Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
BA is using the very same model that all legacy carriers in Europe have moved to, namely the Hub-and-spoke model. LCC competition has made the economics of point--to-point services largely non-viable for legacy carriers. There are a handful of exceptions here and there but they are just that: exceptions. So, no: there is not much prospect of BA expanding services from outside London, in the same way as there is not much prospect of Iberia expanding services from outside Madrid, Alitalia outside Rome, Air France outside Paris, Lufthansa outside Frankfurt and Munich, Austrian outside Vienna, etc...
Jun 26, 2019, 2:33 am
#9
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA GGL, LH FTL
Posts: 3,578
I guess it boils down to competition from the LCCs being too strong to make a lot of money from the regions. If BA were to compete for yet another MAN-ALC they would probably struggle.
The real money is in the LON-somewhere direct routes where fares, especially if you book just a few days before, can be eye-watering.
The real money is in the LON-somewhere direct routes where fares, especially if you book just a few days before, can be eye-watering.
Jun 26, 2019, 2:42 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,532
BA is using the very same model that all legacy carriers in Europe have moved to, namely the Hub-and-spoke model. LCC competition has made the economics of point--to-point services largely non-viable for legacy carriers. There are a handful of exceptions here and there but they are just that: exceptions. So, no: there is not much prospect of BA expanding services from outside London, in the same way as there is not much prospect of Iberia expanding services from outside Madrid, Alitalia outside Rome, Air France outside Paris, Lufthansa outside Frankfurt and Munich, Austrian outside Vienna, etc...
Jun 26, 2019, 2:43 am
#11
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,481
Britain just isn't big enough for a multi-hub long haul airline, and like it or not the short-haul operation only works as a mix of feeder traffic and O&D. Attempting anything different as a publically traded company would be irresponsible.
Jun 26, 2019, 3:24 am
#13
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: SJJ/AMS
Posts: 4,647
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Last edited by AlicorporateUK; Jun 26, 2019 at 3:46 am Reason: spelling.
Jun 26, 2019, 3:35 am
#14
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,065
Does anyone know if BA have plane to expand their services outside of London?
Sure I don’t mind getting to London or connecting at Heathrow to go long haul. I do find it really annoying though that the only options I have out of of Manchester are often Ryan Air.
BA’s offering these days is super if you live in London, but up north/scotland/wales, BA’s offering is pathetic
Sure I don’t mind getting to London or connecting at Heathrow to go long haul. I do find it really annoying though that the only options I have out of of Manchester are often Ryan Air.
BA’s offering these days is super if you live in London, but up north/scotland/wales, BA’s offering is pathetic