p12 news Oct9 7/10/09 21:40 Page 12
news british airways
ttglive.com
BA bullish despite
EYE-WITNESS.
high-fare concerns
The UK’s flag-carrier attracted praise and criticism with the
launch last week of its highly publicised London City-New York
Martin Ferguson test-flies
BA’s new 32-seat Airbus A318
all-business-class service. Martin Ferguson was onboard London City-New York service
PASSING through security at London City airport
BUSINESS travellers could have problems evening and you’ve lost most of the day,” he said. is famously slick. I had checked in online and
justifying the cost of tickets for British Airways’ Richard Tams, the carrier’s UK sales director, had only hand luggage so it took me just 16
new premium service, according to a leading admitted the service needed some “fine-tuning” minutes to get from the airport entrance to
travel manager. but was confident the route gate 24, where there was a make-shift lounge.
Mark Avery, head of procurement at would succeed. Free Wi-Fi and refreshments including
PricewaterhouseCoopers, said some companies “I don’t think you can champagne helped ease the two-hour delay.
would block attempts by employees to book the really understand or ap- Three cabin crew gave the 32 passengers
all-business-class service from London City to preciate the service until five-star attention, though at times they looked
New York JFK because cheaper fares would be you’ve tried it,” he said. noticeably one man short. The 70-minute
available from Heathrow. “The initial feedback journey to Shannon – where passengers clear
Lead-in fares for the service, which is twice- has been good and US customs and immigration – was hectic. The
daily on weekdays with a limited service I have picked up trio hurried to serve and then clear away
on weekends, start at £1,996 including taxes some ideas from drinks and appetisers before landing.
and charges. passengers about However, the one-hour stopover in
Avery, a former chairman of the Institute of how we could make Ireland was worth its weight in gold given the
Travel and Meetings, was onboard the inaugural improvements. time it saved avoiding JFK’s long queues.
City flight last week and admitted he was “very “They are small The touchscreen inflight entertainment
impressed” by the service. things but system was user-friendly and the food and
“It was very good, and clearing customs and important if we drink plentiful and good quality.
immigration in Shannon was beneficial given the are creating the There were some teething problems with
time it saves the passenger when arriving at JFK, best customer the mobile communication technology
which can be slow and cumbersome,” he said. experience.” which allows passengers to email and
“But the bottom line is that it will be hard to BA’s chief text. BA insisted these minor hitches
justify the premium fare at City over cheaper executive, Willie would be ironed out in time.
fares out of Heathrow.” Walsh, has said We landed more than an hour behind
Avery said he had also received negative he expects the schedule, but the walk from the aircraft
feedback about the flight times of the outbound new service to be to the taxis outside the terminal
leg from London. profitable by the took under eight minutes.
“When you land in New York it’s already early end of the year.
No-frills widen passenger gap
88.1%. Ryanair’s carryings grew 17% to 6.1 mil-
lion with a one point rise in load factor to 85%.
BA’s increase in economy-class traffic was
largely the result of price-cutting, and its
BRITISH Airways reported further falls in its “revenue passenger kilometre”, a measure of
passenger numbers last month, in contrast to sales volume, fell 0.8%.
Ryanair and easyJet which both saw increases. The biggest drop in passengers numbers
BA’s overall passenger numbers for the month (17.7%) was on Asia-Pacific routes. European
dropped 1.7% compared with September 2008 passenger numbers dipped by 2.9% to 1.8 million.
to 2.92 million. Premium traffic dropped 7.9% However, American routes were up by 3.4% and
but non-premium traffic rose 0.7% – the third Africa and Middle East traffic climbed by 3.9%.
consecutive month of rises. The carrier’s overall load factor, which
In contrast easyJet and Ryanair both saw rises measures the proportion of seats sold, rose 2.4
in carryings and load factors in September. points to 81.3%.
EasyJet’s passenger numbers rose 5.3% to
4.4 million, with a 1.2 point hike in load factor to ■ BA’s seat fee ‘could bite it on the bum’, p14
12 09.10.2009
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