Tag Archives: 121

British Airways brings the Airbus A380 to Washington Dulles, adds three routes from London Gatwick

British Airways (London) yesterday (October 2) began flying its new 469-seat Airbus A380 aircraft between London Heathrow and Washington Dulles International Airport. This marks the first and only nonstop A380 service between the two nations’ capitals. The airline also officially unveiled its new, improved business and first class lounge for customers departing from Washington D.C.

British Airways will initially operate five A380 services a week from Washington Dulles. This will increase from the end of October to a daily A380 service, in conjunction with the daily flight BA 292, operated by a Boeing 747-400 and the thrice weekly flight BA 264, operated by a Boeing 777.

British Airways has ordered 12 A380s for delivery by 2016. The airline currently has six A380s in service. The first flight was operated with the pictured Airbus A380-841 G-XLEB.

British Airways currently flies its A380 aircraft from Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Johannesburg, with Singapore beginning on October 28 and San Francisco in April 2015.

In other news, British Airways has added another three new routes to its 2015 London Gatwick schedule. Seville in Spain, Funchal in Madeira and Las Palmas in Gran Canaria with the first flights from March 29, 2015.

The news follows announcements on eight other new London Gatwick routes, taking the total number of destinations British Airways flies to from London Gatwick to over 50 for Summer 2015.

From December this year, new winter sun and ski destinations will include Fuerteventura, Friedrichshafen and Grenoble.

Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands will operate from December 13 this year and other sunshine routes launching for summer 2015, will include Cagliari in Sardinia, Heraklion in Crete, Rhodes in Greece and Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey.

The services to all three destinations will be served by a mixture of Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft from London Gatwick.

Top Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com (all others by BA). Airbus A380-841 G-XLEB (msn 121) taxies at Los Angeles to the gate.

Below Photo: The cabin of the Airbus A380:

British Airways:

IAG reduces its first quarter loss to $206.3 million

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) (British Airways, Iberia and Vueling Airlines) (London) today (May 9, 2014) presented Group consolidated results for the first quarter and the three months to March 31, 2014.

IAG period highlights on results:

. First quarter operating loss €150 million ($206.3 million) (2013: operating loss of €278 million – $382.3 million) before exceptional items
. Revenue for the quarter up 6.7 per cent to €4,203 million, up 7.6 per cent at constant currency
. Non-fuel costs up 3.8 per cent, up 4.8 per cent at constant currency
. At constant currency, first quarter passenger unit revenue down 1.4 per cent (excluding Vueling down 0.5 per cent) and non-fuel unit costs down 6.2 per cent (excluding Vueling down 4.2 per cent)
. Fuel unit costs for the quarter down 8.9 per cent, 7.4 per cent at constant currency
. Cash of €4,004 million at March 31, 2014 was up €371 million on 2013 year end
. Adjusted gearing remains at 50 per cent

Willie Walsh, IAG Chief Executive Officer, said:

“We’re pleased that our quarterly operating loss has reduced significantly from €278 million last year to €150 million, especially as Vueling’s quarterly losses were not included last year as they weren’t in the Group. At constant currency, revenue was up 7.6 per cent and non-fuel costs rose 4.8 per cent.

“Iberia has almost halved its losses from quarter one last year with an operating loss of €111 million compared to €202 million. The airline continues to benefit from restructuring and these figures don’t reflect the impact of recent pay and productivity agreements which took effect in April. While the restructuring remains work in progress, Iberia is gradually resuming some routes including longhaul services to Santo Domingo and Montevideo.

“British Airways made an operating loss of €5 million in the quarter, compared to a €72 million operating loss in 2013. The airline has increased capacity within a controlled cost environment and benefited from the efficiency of its new Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 aircraft.

“Vueling made an operating loss of €30 million and has managed to keep its losses flat while growing capacity. The airline continues to grow with its main focus in southern Europe”.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. British Airways’ Airbus A380-841 G-XLEB (msn 121) approaches the runway at London’s Heathrow Airport.

British Airways:

Iberia:

Vueling Airlines:

British Airways to bring the Airbus A380 to Singapore on October 28

British Airways (London) has announced it will upgrade the London (Heathrow)-Singapore route to the new Airbus A380 initially three days a week starting on October 28, 2014.

As previously reported, the new Airbus A380 will begin flying from London (Heathrow) to Washington Dulles International Airport on September 1, 2014. The aircraft is already flying from London to both Los Angeles and Hong Kong and just started services between London and Johannesburg.

Copyright Photo: Karl Cornil/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A380-841 G-XLEB (msn 121) arrives back at the London (Heathrow) base.

British Airways utilizes Kristin Davis to introduce the new A380 service to Singapore:

British Airways:

British Airways announces new Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-8 routes

British Airways (London) has also announced its summer schedule for 2014 confirming the new routes for its new Airbus A380s and Boeing 787-8s:

British Airways confirms the next routes for its new A380s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners and increases frequencies to select cities as part of the airline’s 2014 summer schedule (March 30, 2014).

The new Airbus A380 will begin flying from Washington Dulles International Airport to London Heathrow on September 1, 2014. The aircraft is already flying from Los Angeles and Hong Kong direct to London and will start services between London and Johannesburg in February 2014.

In North America the new Boeing 787s will fly nonstop to London Heathrow from Austin beginning on March 3, Philadelphia (US Airways is joining the Oneworld alliance on March 31, 2014) beginning on June 5 and Calgary from July 5, 2014.

Across the British Airways network, the 787s will also launch new services to Hyderabad, India from March 30 and Chengdu, China from May 5, 2014.

Network Service Increases:

— Mexico City will benefit from an increase from five to six services a week from April 27.
— British Airways will increase the number of flights to Chengdu from three to five a week (from May 5, 2014).
— From May 6, Tokyo Haneda will move from five a week to daily flights and will be re-timed to a more convenient 8.50 am departure from Haneda.
— Cape Town will gain an extra three Boeing 777-200 ER flights a week through South Africa’s cooler winter season (the Northern Hemisphere’s summer) taking it from a daily service to 10 flights a week and accommodating an additional 219 customers in four cabins.

Notes :

— All summer 2014 increases are versus winter 2013/14.
— The A380 to Washington D.C. will be available on the BA217 and BA216 o Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
— The 787 from Austin will operate five days a week, increasing to daily later in the year.
— The 787 from Philadelphia and Calgary will be a daily service.
— All aircraft are subject to change depending on operational requirements.
— The airline is also refreshing its short-haul fleet, so is taking delivery of one new aircraft every two weeks on average up until October 2014.

British Airways:

ACT Airlines Airbus A300 overshoots the runway at Bagram Air Base

ACT Airlines’ (Istanbul) Airbus A300B4-203 (F) freighter, registered TC-ACB (msn 121) operating for DHL Airways yesterday (March 1) overshot the runway at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, closing the runway. The left main gear reportedly failed on landing causing the engines to shear off.