BA have been slated, & rightly so.

Strangely, we haven’t heard a peep from BAA…

…and my understanding from inside the industry today is that most of it IS down to BA – BAA have some issues that have had a knock-on for BA, but most of its down to BA.

Andy

Nope

What a complete joke this country is, in more ways than one, can you see this happening in Paris? or Sydney? or the Americas? what a shambles, what a laughing stock, I am ashamed to be English, the sooner I can emigrate to Australia the better.

Millennium Dome, Millennium Bridge, Wembley Stadium, the list goes on, I can’t wait for the Olympics, the morons in charge of all these projects should be shot.

A bit unfair really. For example, Denver, Hong Kong CLK, Bangkok all had problems far worse that LHRT5 has had so far, even Munich-FJS had its problems. I was in Cairo earlier this week, and their new terminal is way from finished and is already six months late. And its not just a case of learning lessons – all of these projects are different in some respect or another.

Whilst it might be convenient to remember other problem projects at this time (or maybe its just British nature to whinge and bash the failures, rather than celebrating successes), there are successes if you care to look for them too – for example, the CTRL2 / High Speed One rail link and St. Pancras International cost 50% more than LHRT5 and yet came in on schedule and within budget.

A

I’m not. As I said two weeks ago re the other losers. This is a post 9-11 world. Pax do not need the extra stress of seeing a person with a bag in a place he should not have been.
A 50 calibre in the chest would have left him in two pieces. If the plonkers from 2 weeks ago had been sorted properly, this idiot would not have tried it.

And how long would LHR have been closed (or on limited ops) if they’d have shot a guy on the airfield? In today’s polically correct / inquiries about everything world, a significant part of the airfield would probably be closed for days whilst the HSE/PCC/whatever investigated, inspected and inquired.

As it was I was flying out of LHR on Thursday evening and when I parked on the north side, I thought it odd that the north side runway was not being used. There were quite long lines of aeroplanes holding on taxiways too. However, by 18:00 when SA235 was ready to go, aside from a few BA domestics showing cancelled on the screens in T1, LHR was largely back to ops normal.

Andy

I would suggest that a sigificant reason why major corporate sponsorship has not been forthcoming (leaving aside the return-on-investment issue) is not the so called credit crunch – rather, it is that every time TVOC have asked for an amount of money, that amount of money has subsequently proven to be insufficient. I know from experience that corporates (a) want to know exactly what they’re getting for their money and (b) don’t like surprises like the price going up after they’ve agreed to do something. TVOC haven’t therefore exactly helped themselves with the corporate market in this respect.

A

observing now that a tech stop in SNN is ness for fuel (which i queried in my OP that could the airbus make JFK from the LCY short runway) then the punters may put off by that,
premium pax dont like tech stops,

it doesnot affect flight crew limitations having a 2 sector flight re flying hours too much on an eastern seaboard destn but its fairly tight.

i just think trying to market commercially a flight with a stop will not be so attractive.
i am certain of that.
i think for BA there is a risk here can they sell it with 1 stop and fill it up!
OR they are doing this just to push the new competiton out because BA may have been losing pax to them??
maxjet have gone, so is it 1 down and 2 to go?

under open skies then they could pick up pax in ireland but SNN is not a huge premium market whereas DUB might be BUT as there is NO stop on the inbound flight then the pax cant be dropped off on the way back 🙁

re fast tracking pax thru US immigration in SNN ?
i have never heard of that being suggested again by border/homeland security as ever an option now for overseas visitors to be cleared before they land on US soil, so i doubt that can be considered here unless they change their minds which in current climates is unlikely.

again premium pax would NOT like to be disturbed by having to clear customs or immigration on a tech stop in ireland LOL

i also dont think the tech stop either has anything contracturaly to do with what branch of crew is used to fly these jets, it purely is a fuel stop.
a poster mentioned why not use cityflyer crews but these are not trained for etops or long haul whereas mainline are. (costs and possible industrial strife apart)

re LGA airport as an option for arrivals/deps in the US as a poster suggested,
is this an international airport facility?
i dont know if it has customs there and did it ever in recent history?

all aside i do think its a great idea BUT knowing very well from my experience exactly what super J class pax are like then the tech stop hurdle needs to be overcome via good marketing which albeit the LCY product does very well…

I not sure you’re anywhere close with what you’re saying… A few observations:

1. Even with two sectors, LCY-SNN-NYC is NOT fairly tight – for an acclimatised crew on a morning departure, maximum duty time is something like 13 hours or so, which is plenty

2. US Immigration clearance at SNN (and DUB for that matter) has been going on for years, and is still available – it also happens in a number of Canadian and Caribbean airports

3. LGA has customs – it handles flights from Canada and the Caribbean. It wouldn’t need immigration (see 2 above). However, LGA does have a perimeter rule and a no-new-international services rule that BA would have to do some work on IF (repeat IF) they were looking at LGA

4. Many [premium] pax would gladly trade a short tech stop combined with US Immigration in SNN for having to stand in lines at the New York end – the sort of pax this service is pitched at are likely to be mainly taking just carry on bags and aeroplane to curbside in just a few minutes wil be a huge selling point

5. The inbound to LCY will be even more attractive – none stop and an arrival shortly before office hours will be hugely attractive to those heading for the City or Canary Warf

As I said previously, BA will do really well with this operation… EOS may not be happy though!

ANdy

Its twice daily, LCY-SNN-JFK and JFK-LCY. The A318 with 32 seats can do that. 15 minute checkin – if you’re in the City of London (and even moreso Docklands), even with the short tech stop, it’d be a no-brainer to go for the LCY service rather than hike all the way out to LHR (unpredictable traffic or nasty public transport journey, longer checkin times, etc). If they can get passengers to clear US Immigration fast-track in Shannon during the splash and dash, it’d be even better as there’d be no waiting in the lines at US immigration in New York – that could even open up the option of BA using closer in LGA rather than JFK (BA haven’t actually confirmed JFK yet, have they?). I think this will be a big success, and I bet it’ll put the wind up EOS (and Silverjet) who actively promote their services as departing from airports easier to access from the City.

Andy

Goodyear is largely clear now (a few USPS 727s, an odd former UA DC-10 or two) – certainly not the place it was, but by all means worth a visit if passing – its about 30 miles west of Phoenix.

The “prop” place south of Phoenix, Chandler Memorial field, has been cleared out with the exception of a few sorry looking former Biegert DC-4s, at least one missing its rear fuselage and tail. International Air Response (C-130s, one DC-7), who were at Chandler Memorial, moved to Coolidge and all the other DC-7s were cut up.

Andy