Tag Archives: Heathrow

British Airways is getting ready to operate the last Boeing 737 revenue flight

British Airways (London) is nearing the end of an aircraft era – the last operational single-aisle Boeing 737. BA is now down to just three active 149-seat Boeing 737-436s (G-DOCO, G-DOCW and G-DOCX), all based at London’s Gatwick Airport. The older Boeing 737-400s are being replaced by newer Airbus A320 Family aircraft.

The older Boeing 737-400s have been gradually retired to the desert at Victorville, CA (VCV) and other locations and other operators.

Boeing 737-436 G-DOCO is now planned to be ferried to VCV on September 2.

The last two remaining 737-436s will close out a long line of BA Boeing 737 operations on September 30. Currently the last scheduled revenue flight of a BA 737 is between Turin (TRN) and London (Gatwick) (LGW) on September 30 with either of these two aircraft (G-DOCW or the pictured G-DOCX above). Of course, as with any aircraft type retirement, the last flight is always subject to operational needs as a possible replacement aircraft.

Above Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum Collection/AirlinersGallery.com. The original BA Boeing 737 type, the new Boeing 737-200s were delivered in the pictured 1973 livery which featured a lower case “airways” for titles.

BA has been a long-time Boeing 737 operator. In July 1978, BA placed an order for 19 new Boeing 737-200s (above) to start the Trident replacement process. The new type entered revenue service in February 1980. The carrier gained experience with the type with leased-in 737-200s from Transavia Airlines starting in November 1977.

Above Copyright Photo: Richard Vandervord/AirlinersGallery.com. Later an experimental silver top version of the updated 1980 livery (with just “British” titles) was tried. Boeing 737-236 G-BKYA (msn 23159) arrives at the London (Heathrow) base when it was the main short-range BA airliner.

The company operated the venerable 737-200 (below) until 2001.

Below Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-236 G-BKYJ (msn 23168) taxies at Zurich in the 1984 Landor color scheme.

Above Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati Collection/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-34S G-OGBC (msn 29109) in the “Flowers from Mazowsze” Utopia tail design was actually operated by franchise carrier GB Airways in British colors.

The newer and larger 737-300s were operated from 1988 to 2009 (above) and the 737-500 (below) from 1996 through 2009.

Above Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-5H6 G-GFFJ (msn 27355) of British Airways departs from Lasham.

The larger Boeing 737-400s were introduced into the fleet in October 1991 with the delivery of three 141-seat 737-436s. The stretched 737 has served the carrier well over the years. A total of 37 Boeing 737-400s have been operated and the fleet has been gradually reduced as newer Airbus A320 Family aircraft have been introduced.

The Boeing 737-400 fleet was initially based at London’s Heathrow where the type replaced earlier Boeing 737-200s. When the new Airbus A319s and A320s arrived, the older Boeing 737-400s were moved to London’s Gatwick Airport. LGW has became the last stronghold of a BA 737.

Unfortunately for this historical Boeing 737 Classic tradition, BA decided not to order the Next-Generation advanced 737 models and instead elected to go with Airbus as replacements.

The Boeing 737 is sunsetting at British Airways. It served BA very well over the years. Farewell.

Top Copyright Photo: Terry Wade/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-436 G-DOCX (msn 25857) arrives back at the LGW base with the red nose in support of Red Nose Day.

British Airways aircraft slide show:

Emirates to make London Gatwick an all-Airbus A380 destination

Emirates (Dubai) is moving to a triple-daily all-Airbus A380 scheduled operation at London’s Gatwick Airport starting on January 1, 2016. The third daily A380 roundtrip flight will replace the lone existing Boeing 777-300 ER flight according to Airline Route.

The carrier dominates the Dubai – London market with five additional daily Airbus A380 flights to Dubai from nearby London Heathrow Airport. This is a total of eight daily Airbus A380 roundtrip flights in one market.

Copyright Photo: AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A380-861 A6-EDW (msn 103) with special “Rugby World Cup – England 2015” markings taxies at London (Heathrow).

Emirates aircraft slide show:

British Airways to launch the London Gatwick – San Jose route

British Airways (London) will launch a new route connecting London (Gatwick) with San Jose, Costa Rica starting on May 4, 2016. The new route will be operated two days a week via Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft according to Airline Route.

British Airways aircraft slide show:

British Airways to end service to Almaty and Entebbe

British Airways (London) is dropping two long-haul routes from its London Heathrow hub. The flag carrier will drop service to Almaty (Kazakhstan) on October 11 and Entebbe (Uganda) on October 2 (both dates are for LHR departures) per Airline Route. Both routes are served with Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft.

British Airways aircraft slide show:

British Airways to operate the Airbus A380 daily to Singapore, Miami to start on October 25

British Airways (London) will go to a daily Airbus A380 operation the London (Heathrow) – Singapore route on February 24, 2016 instead of early March, 2016. As previously reported, the Super Jumbo will also be introduced on the London (Heathrow) – Miami route on October 25.

Also on October 25, BA will introduce the new stretched Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (below) on the London (Heathrow) – Delhi route.

Image Above: British Airways.

Top Copyright Photo: AirlinersGallery.com. British Airways Airbus A380-841 G-XLEE (msn 148) taxies at the London (Heathrow) hub.

British Airways aircraft slide show:

Video: British Airways. The Airbus A380:

Turkish Airlines to extend the Johannesburg route to Durban

Turkish Airlines (Istanbul) has announced it will extend the current Istanbul (Ataturk) – Johannesburg route to Durban this fall. Durban will become the third destination for the carrier in South Africa.

Turkish currently has the fourth largest flight network with 276 destinations in 110 countries.

In other news, the carrier started daily service to Dammam flights from/to Istanbul (Sabiha Gökçen International Airport). Damman becomes the 22nd destination from the secondary airport of Istanbul.

Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-303 TC-JNS (msn 1458) climbs away from the runway at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Turkish Airlines aircraft slide show:

British Airways to resume Boeing 787-8 service on the London Heathrow – Calgary route, announces more 787-9 routes

British Airways (London) will resume daily Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner service on the London (Heathrow) – Calgary route now on December 5, 2015 per Airline Route. The Boeing 767-300 will be assigned to the route from October 25 until December 4.

In other news, BA has announced the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will be assigned to the London (Heathrow) – Delhi route from October 25 according to Airline Route.

Additionally the new type will be assigned to the London (Heathrow) – Abu Dhabi – Muscat route starting on November 17.

The 787-9 will also now operate on the London (Heathrow) – Kuala Lumpur route starting December 21 and the new London (Heathrow) – Austin route starting February 22, 2016.

Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. British Airways currently operates eight Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. The first 787-9 Dreamliner will be registered as G-ZBKA (msn 38616). BA has 16 on order. Boeing 787-8 G-ZBJC (msn 38611) departs from London (Heathrow).

British Airways aircraft slide show:

Air China is coming to Newark starting on October 26

Air China (Beijing) will commence the nonstop Beijing – Newark route starting on October 26. The new route will be operated four days a week with Boeing 777-300 ERs per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 777-39L B-2036 (msn 38676) taxies to the gate at Heathrow Airport in London.

Air China aircraft slide show:

Ryanair agrees to sell its 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus to IAG

Ryanair (Dublin) has agreed to sell its 29.8 percent share in Aer Lingus (Dublin) to the International Airlines Group-IAG (British Airways, Iberia and Vueling Airlines) (London). The airline issued this statement:

The Board of Ryanair Holdings PLC today (July 10) confirmed that it has voted unanimously to accept the IAG offer for Ryanair’s 29.8% shareholding in Aer Lingus Group plc. Ryanair’s stake in Aer Lingus has been available for sale since May 2012 and the Board believes that the current IAG offer maximizes Ryanair shareholder value.

In line with this decision, Ryanair will now vote in favor of the motion at the Aer Lingus EGM on July 16 (to give the Irish Government a golden share over Aer Lingus’s Heathrow slots) and Ryanair will also vote its 29.8% shareholding in favor of acceptance of the IAG offer, subject to this offer receiving regulatory approval from the European competition authorities.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“We believe the IAG offer for Aer Lingus is a reasonable one in the current market and we plan to accept it, in the best interests of Ryanair shareholders. The price means that Ryanair will make a small profit on its investment in Aer Lingus over the past 9 years.

This sale of our stake is timely given that our original strategy for Aer Lingus (to use it as a mid-priced brand to offer competition to flag carriers at primary airports) has been overtaken by the successful rollout – since September 2013 – of Ryanair’s “Always Getting Better” strategy, which has seen the Ryanair brand successfully enter many of Europe’s primary airports, being rewarded with strong growth in our network, traffic, load factor and profitability, while keeping our fares low and our punctuality high.

We wish IAG well with their takeover of Aer Lingus. When Ryanair first bid for Aer Lingus in late 2006, Ryanair (36 million passengers) carried 4 times Aer Lingus traffic (9 million). Today Ryanair (over 100 million) carries more than 10 times Aer Lingus traffic (10 million), and we will continue to deliver the vast majority of Ireland’s traffic and tourism growth in the coming months and years.”

Ken Odeluga, a senior market analyst at www.cityindex.com.sg comments on this latest news:

It has taken the better part of seven months for IAG to put the final pieces of the Aer Lingus puzzle in place.

Ryanair has, after much delay, which it insisted was not down to intransigence, agreed to sell its 30% to IAG, which had already struck a deal with Ireland’s government to purchase the country’s 25%.

Reports that the EU will swiftly grant conditional approval appear credible.

Concessions by IAG were accepted by the antitrust authorities this morning. IAG offered to relinquish some slots and to give its competitors special terms, like allowing them to provide connecting at favourable terms.

All these agreements will tend to focus investors’ minds back on the details of the €1.3 billion bid, for which a strong part of the rationale rests on highly prized routes from Heathrow and lucrative routes between the UK and North America.

Aer Lingus had 300 slots at Heathrow as of December, with industry figures suggesting each is worth at least £5 million per annum.

Also, Aer Lingus is not the unprofitable airline it was say about 15 years ago or more. It’s stronger in margin terms than Lufthansa, for instance, and had at least €550 million in free cash at last tally.

The additional 3.5%-4% of Heathrow market share will consolidate IAG’s dominance at the hub, ahead of the extension of capacity.

But now comes the hard part.

Despite its recent forecast upgrades, IAG remains the least profitable airline operator based in the UK or Ireland.

EasyJet and Ryanair are tightly matched and each seems to swap marginal dominance over the other every few years or so.

Either way, the pair has largely locked out all other large competitors in Europe, including IAG, for the last decade.

Plus, having already written down the value of its Aer Lingus stake, Ryanair’s £400 million proceeds from the sale will go straight to its bottom line.

The only way for a rival catch and match with the two above in terms of profits, is to grow, probably inorganically, and probably not in Europe, in the medium term.

With the soon-to-be-cemented deal, IAG has given itself the best chance among any large European carrier to close the profit gap, and the scale to absorb strategic hits to margins in Europe.

Top Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS EI-DPM (msn 33640) lands in Tenerife Sur.

Ryanair aircraft slide show:

Aer Lingus aircraft slide show:

Bottom Copyright Photo: AirlinersGallery.com. Aer Lingus Airbus A319-111 EI-EPU (msn 3102) taxies to the gate at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Air Malta and KLM sign a code-share agreement

Air Malta (Luqa) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam) have signed a code-share agreement whereby KLM will place its code and flight numbers on flights operated by Air Malta between Malta and Amsterdam.

Starting with immediate effect this agreement will enable KLM to offer their customers daily services between the Dutch capital and Malta. Air Malta’s flights to/from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport will connect with KLM’s extensive global network.