RE: BA & A380?

British Airways’ order for the Airbus fleet is (I believe and open to comment) the single largest order ever for Airbus aircraft (in one go) and BA’s largest single order, so I think to state that their order was a goodwill gesture may be a little understated.

British Airways’ policy of reducing capacity in their fleet was to focus on premium passengers due to slot constraints and a slow decision on T5 at LHR. They wanted to do away with a lot of feeder traffic which is relatively low yield. Now that T5 has been given the go ahead we may see BA show interest in the A380, though it isn’t worth them looking at it for some time yet. You’ll notice that many of those airlines (with the exclusion of Virgin who want it more as a luxury aircraft I think) that have ordered the A380 are airlines that feed hubs and do accept high levels of low yield feeder traffic, so it’s worth them ordering the aircraft (this include Emirates and SIA, and Qatar’s decision is based upon them wanting to create a hub like that of fellow gulf carrier Emirates.)

Richard