Emirates adds a 7th Heathrow flight – on a Boeing 777

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• BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

  16 Aug16 August 08:15

  “Remember that you can connect via Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin as well as from Heathrow”

  Planes Operating those routes are the equivalent of CE – so no sofa suite – on an Airbus short haul plane or Embraer. And the latter operated by their subsidiary regional operator not mainline AY.

  And whilst MAN and EDI will get you 80 TPs in Business it’s 40 from DUB

• Tony says:

  16 Aug16 August 08:27

  Sounds utterly horrendous!

• Matarredonda says:

  16 Aug16 August 09:51

  Heard yesterday Emirates planning third daily flight in/out of Stansted and are building own lounge instead of using the Escape lounge.

  • Rob says:

    16 Aug16 August 10:08

    Interestingly I heard the lounge rumour this week too, so it could well be true.

    • memesweeper says:

      16 Aug16 August 10:28

      That lounge is an embarrassment. I was surprised they didn’t do a deal with the private jet terminal for F.

    • Matarredonda says:

      16 Aug16 August 12:21

      Was told it by somebody at Stansted Airport involved with lounges.

• David S says:

  16 Aug16 August 10:23

  Why is it that AY can find it profitable to fly to BKK and now extend it to 14 flights a week when BA can’t even muster one flight a week. Same for QR. I bet both have their Bus class cabins full on these routes and find the route profitable. It’s almost like BA has no ambition any more except for flying to North America.
  And please don’t say it’s a lack of aircraft. You can see how the more positive airlines made plans when Covid hit to restart and adjust (including expanding) their operations. Some airlines are now ordering hundreds of aircraft. What did BA do recently- I think they ordered 6 or 8. Sorry to moan but wish BA had more ambition or positiveness.

  • Rhys says:

    16 Aug16 August 10:32

    ….because after the Russian invasion, Finnair had to scrabble to find routes that it could make work, full stop.

    BA has some very nice transatlantic routes where it can basically shovel the cash, so it doesn’t need the slim pickings.

    Ordering 50 aircraft isn’t much use for flights for this year or next year. And even if it did put in a big order, there are still massive supply chain issues when it comes to installing business class seats, with lots of airlines delaying entry into service. Lufthansa has just delayed its new seats until next year – they were supposed to arrive in September.

    • David S says:

      16 Aug16 August 10:47

      The last part is I guess part of what I allude to. It takes time to get aircraft, interiors and crew. But you don’t really see BA planning much for the future. Maybe I’m wrong as I’m not in the industry but with some of the massive orders coming in, won’t that new create an order backlog and drive up prices. I’m assuming that at some date the older aircraft at Gatwick will need replacing if only by cast off’s from Heathrow.

      • Rhys says:

        16 Aug16 August 11:02

        Erm, yes they do. The 787-10s they recently ordered were conversions of options they placed with the original order. They will now arrive in 2025/2026, which is fairly soon.

        BA also have a fleet of 777Xs due to arrive from 2025/2026 and plenty more options they can convert. They just aren’t the bombastic orders you’ve seen at Indian and Middle Eastern airlines recently (some of which undoubtedly will never get delivered).

      • JDB says:

        16 Aug16 August 13:55

        @David S – if you were to attend an IAG investor presentation, you will see that the group and each of the group airlines have very clear plans for the future; it would be fairly extraordinary/negligent for a business of their size not to . It may not always feel like it as a passenger, but IAG is a very well managed business and many aspire to their metrics/margins.

    • Marcw says:

      17 Aug17 August 01:36

      Pre COVID Finnair used to fly 3 daily to BKK, plus daily to Phuket, plus 3 weekly to Krabi.
      There’s business there if passengers are willing to pay the fare.

  • willmo says:

    16 Aug16 August 10:37

    I imagine because AY has a very different definition of ‘profitable’ than BA.
    Given London is a large hub of wealthy people & businesses that are willing to purchase expensive tickets – I imagine BA has run the numbers and determined that while BKK may be profitable, flying to secondary US cities delivers even better returns, and BA can still codeshare with QR for BKK.

    • Rob says:

      16 Aug16 August 11:28

      BKK is a bad use of aircraft time, especially with the Russia airspace diversion. You could literally do two trips to the US East Coast in the time it takes to do one return flight to Bangkok, and I would guess the combined yield of those two flights is 3-4x higher than one Bangkok trip.

• Londonsteve says:

  16 Aug16 August 11:23

  Why would an independent traveller want to fly to Riyadh? Any ideas?
  Holidaying in KSA is not my idea of how I’d want to spend my leisure time.

  • Rob says:

    16 Aug16 August 11:31

    If you’re talking ‘holiday’ in the bucket and spade sense then, yes, not great.

    For someone who is well travelled and is intrigued by the idea of seeing what life is like in Saudi Arabia, it’s worth doing. I think any ‘independent traveller’ who has knocked up 30+ countries would be interested.

    • Londonsteve says:

      16 Aug16 August 12:49

      I can see the country might interest the very well travelled, people with a particular interest in the Arabic world or those with an acute sense of adventure who get a thrill from going ‘off the beaten track’ to see somewhere before mass tourism arrives. I’ve probably been to 30 countries so far but I can make a long list of places I’d prioritise before going to KSA. That’s not to knock the real or perceived tourism potential, it’s more to do with the real or perceived restrictions; I wouldn’t find a visit relaxing. I understand why they’re opening up, the elders can see the days of big oil are numbered and they’ve got precious few competencies in other fields. They want to emulate the UAE but with more religious observance.

      I’m surprised that Wizz Air wants to develop routes to KSA at this early stage, I struggle to imagine who’s flying from Sofia to Riyadh, for example, other than a handful of Bulgarian expats working in KSA and another handful of people using Sofia as a cheap transit city. It’s not as if expats job in KSA are poorly compensated and European expats are under financial pressure to book the cheapest flights. Mind you, I might be tempted to book Wizz for the European vibe rather than something like Saudia. I wonder if it’s permitted to buy alcohol on board Wizz flights to KSA? That might make all the difference with some of the target customers.

  • Dubious says:

    16 Aug16 August 11:59

    There is stuff to see in SA, similar to Jordan in a way, except perhaps without the sea resorts. The trouble is much of it is quite spread out.

    For Riyadh, my suggestion (based on what I did) is to rent a car (with high ground clearance) and visit ‘The Edge of the World’.

    The Aviation Museum in the city is also quite good. Just hard to get in.

  • PL says:

    16 Aug16 August 12:23

    If you have been to Petra and enjoyed it then you may be interested in Medain Saleh in KSA which looks spectacular. Also built by the Nebateans. I hope to visit one day.

  • James says:

    16 Aug16 August 12:55

    Have you seen youtube vlogs, loads of people. You must be the minority

    • Londonsteve says:

      16 Aug16 August 15:05

      I take it these vlogs have influenced you and you’ll be going to join the hordes that are headed that way? Clearly I’m in a small minority of people that have no plans to visit. To be quite frank, I value enjoying a beer while on holiday too highly.

      • Rob says:

        16 Aug16 August 16:30

        I find the whole ‘drinking on holiday thing’ weird. I think its because I have a job where I get huge amounts of alcohol thrown at me (and consumed!) on a regular basis, both at industry events and whilst travelling.

        I never – unless we have guests – drink at home and, especially as we’ve got the kids around, it is very rare that I would drink when on a family holiday once off the plane. Possibly a couple of glasses of wine with a meal over the course of a week but I’d do that anyway if we were in London and eating out. I genuinely cannot think of the last time I went into a bar, in a hotel or elsewhere, on holiday.

        • Londonsteve says:

          16 Aug16 August 17:43

          I think you put your finger on your lack of interest in boozing in your leisure time very early on. I’d be the same if people were throwing free alcohol at me due to my work. The reality for most people is that we pay for it and because it’s an element of leisure and relaxation, it’s inextricably linked with going on holiday. I could conceive of going to a destination where alcohol was forbidden or exceedingly hard to come by/expensive, but the rewards in terms of things to see would otherwise need to be major to merit the abstention. KSA looks too boring, quite frankly.

• Paul says:

  16 Aug16 August 12:31

  I lived in Saudi Arabia in 1983-85 and was then paying £600 plus return in Y JED LHR.

  As far as tourism is concerned there is a great deal of potential especially the Asir province which has a fascinating history. The cities I imagine would be an eye opener too

• C says:

  16 Aug16 August 12:53

  How many award J class seats are normally available in QR and AY?

  Can’t find any availability on the BA bookings page.

  • Rob says:

    16 Aug16 August 13:45

    Qatar guarantees 2, Finnair will (from some point) guarantee 2.

• Tarmohamed says:

  16 Aug16 August 13:15

  Saudia is now visa on arrival as well so no need to get an evisa either.

  • Tarmohamed says:

    16 Aug16 August 13:15

    Obv for British Citizens

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