BA does not get its first A350 until 2018, but it has already caused a bit of a stir in that the aircraft will feature a new business class design. Last year, a leak of a patent drawing suggested that BA was abandoning its current Club World design in favour of all-forward facing seats, but this may not be the case, as BA chief executive Alex Cruz says it is not “sufficiently revolutionary” to warrant a retrofit throughout the fleet. We shall see, but in the meantime, BA is showing off its new First cabin, which is only on Boeing 787-9s. Ten of the 21 on order are now flying to destinations including Jeddah, Houston and Seoul. The new First is more of a tweak than a radical reappraisal, but which approach BA takes with its business cabin will probably remain a mystery right up until 2018. Meanwhile, there are plenty of new designs from other carriers to get excited about – flyers have never had so much choice.
of the year. Revenue-sharing between the two carriers means Qantas is able to fill its Sydney-Dallas services and launch a San Francisco-Sydney flight, while American began flying Los Angeles to Sydney in De- cember and launched LA-Auckland in late June as a codeshare with Qantas – the first time either of these carriers has served this route for a decade. Both teams are competing against the Delta/Virgin Australia alliance that dates back to 2011, but are now turning up the heat. US and Australasian airlines have the
where Easyjet and Bmi set up registered head offices in Luxembourg or Dublin, but make no mistake, they will be thinking about it if the need arises.
US ELECTIONS Across the Atlantic, the big concern is November’s election. Donald Trump has signalled that he will be ultra-protectionist if he wins, so Qatar Airways’ recent experience at Atlanta, where it claims its debut flight
was unable to use a gate after it was blocked by a Delta aircraft, might escalate. Delta’s apparently churlish behaviour follows months of protests to Congress about the incursion of the Gulf carriers into the States, but a look at the last six months or so shows that the US carriers are in some ways being protectionist themselves through joint ventures (JVs), at least on the western seaboard. The latest has been the transpacific JV between Star Alliance members United and Air New Zealand, which are sharing revenue on United’s San Francisco-Auckland service that began in July following the signing of a JV. Prior to this, Qantas and American Airlines sealed a partnership at the start
Pacific covered, but, as the alleged incident at Atlanta showed, US carriers have something to fear from an incursion from an easterly direction from their Gulf rivals, which have funds deep enough to bludgeon their way through a fares war. Donald Trump will doubtless look askance if he learns of the deep pockets and predatory tendencies of Qatar Airways, for example, which has been empire building recently. The airline’s summer shopping spree saw it extend its reach in the Oneworld alliance, agreeing a stake in Chile’s Latam of up to 10 per cent worth US$613 million. This was followed in August by the airline increasing its stake in IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia, to 20 per cent. Qatar Airways also took a 49 per cent stake in Meridiana, Italy’s second-biggest airline, mirroring rival Etihad’s investment in Alitalia, so that will be an interesting battle ground. The Qataris also bought 25 per cent
of St Petersburg airport, adding it to a 20 per cent investment in Heathrow, making the tiny state a growing player on the global stage.
Low-cost long-haul – is the revolution now really underway?
YOU MIGHT NOT BOOK AIRLINES LIKE NORWEGIAN OR WOW for your travellers’ long-haul flights, but as they grow, their effect on pulling down prices in the market overall should become apparent. Growing is one thing they are certainly doing, with Norwegian making a significant order at this year’s Farnborough Air Show, where it became the launch customer for the Airbus A321LR, a narrow-body aircraft with a range of roughly nine hours. With a premium economy cabin, the capacity of these aircraft will be around 165 passengers, making ‘thin’ routes to the US from the UK viable. Norwegian has 30 on order, with the first eight arriving in 2019. It is also adding 30 344-seat Boeing 787-9s, the first of which are already on service. Also at Farnborough, Iceland’s Wow Air ordered another four Airbus A321s, having earlier this year added three wide-body
72 BBT September/October 2016
Airbus A330s to its fleet, which will include 17 aircraft by the end of this year and which is attracting economy transatlantic passengers away from the mainline carriers. New York’s Jet Blue is also thinking of getting in on the act. It
has ordered 15 of the new A321LRs, which, it says, could be a “game changer” in allowing it to start flights to Europe from the US east coast from around 2020. Singapore Airlines’ budget brand Scoot will have a dozen new Boeing 787-8s by the end of the year, but crucially, another four on order have crew bunks, in preparation for the launch on June 20, 2017 of the world’s longest low-cost carrier service between Singapore and Athens. Scoot offers a premium economy cabin, Scootbiz, plus internet access, so it might have some appeal in the budget corporate sector.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132