British Airways orders new planes

[TallDutch]

British Airways has placed an order for 34 new aircraft - the largest the airline has made since 1998.
The carrier is buying 12 Airbus A380 superjumbos and 24 Boeing 787s. It also has options for a further seven A380s and 18 of the 787 planes.

The new aircraft will replace 34 of BA's existing long-haul fleet, and will be delivered between 2010 and 2014.

The new planes would be "greener, quieter and more fuel efficient" with much lower CO2 emissions, BA said.

The carrier added that the new orders, including the options, would give it the ability to increase its capacity by 4% a year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7015621.stm

[Iberia A340-600]

Very surprised about the A380 but I'm quite happy for Airbus! :D

I've been reading that the British Airways A380 might not be coming to JFK because they want to keep frequency over capacity.

[Tom_Turner]

I imagine we'll get at least one Speedbird Whalejet at JFK...at least for awhile.

Tom

[pgengler]

Very surprised about the A380 but I'm quite happy for Airbus! :D

I've been reading that the British Airways A380 might not be coming to JFK because they want to keep frequency over capacity.

Does anyone know what sort of loads BA runs to JFK? If there's enough demand, we might see the beast come to JFK on the occasional flight.

[PhilDernerJr]

Well considering that in the afternoon there are as many as 4 BA 747s sitting at their terminal making live turns, their loads have to be decent.

I, too, am surprised by the A380 order. I'm sure they'll find some good use for them though.

[Winglets747]

Keep in mind BAs 747s are some of the least dense 74s out there with 291 seats. Virgin fits 386 in its 74s while AA's 777 fits 245. So in relation to frequency and aircraft size, BA has 2,037 daily seats presuming 7x 747 flights, while Virgin has 1,930 seats presuming 5x 747 flights. (That's the easy math--BA uses 777s and VS uses 346s.)

While the A380 would increase capacity, it would likely be approximately 100 seats, given BAs current large premium cabins and an increased focus on premium service (in part to take away from MaxJet, SilverJet, Eos).

So when it comes down to 12 A380s in the fleet and routes like LHR-HKG that are time-restricted (IIRC, they have two 747s depart within 45 mins of each other), or slot-restricted (NRT) JFK simply loses an increased capacity--say 100 seats per A380 flight--to greater frequency, which would provide say, 200 additional seats over what replacing 1x 747 flight with 1x 380 flight would.

That being said, I would not be surprised to see the A380 to make the rounds to JFK, especially right after delivery to BA because of the relatively short flight time of LHR-JFK.

[RDU-JFK]

We gonna see any BA A380s at JFK? I doubt it since frequency is of greater value and T7 isn't A380-ready.

Terminal 7 is getting awfully cramped, isn't it?

[MarkLawrence]

Interestingly enough, on ATW Online this morning, the BA CEO was quoted as suggesting the routes for the BA A380's

"This is an exciting day for British Airways with our largest fleet order since 1998," CEO Willie Walsh said. The A380 will be used to provide more capacity on high-density routes and maximize use of scarce London Heathrow slots, he explained. "At this stage we see the A380 operating to Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and possibly some Indian destinations," he said. The 787 will be used to start new routes to Asia, South America and North America and increase frequencies on existing routes, he added.

JNB I can see for sure - one A380 with replace 2 747-400 flights...the others are all understandable as well.

[Nonstop2AUH]

I would guess that if the premium cabin product on the A380 is materially better than what they offer on the 744s or 777s, BA might be compelled to put some on the JFK schedule if only because JFK-LHR premium cabin is one of the biggest moneymakers in their system and the banking/finance/legal types who are the core customer for this may well expect to have BA's top services, especially as increasingly they have other options (Eos, Silverjet, etc.).