British Airways

[lbaspotter]

INV had the massive advantage of no APD on the flight itself and any long haul connection, so if you started there you immediately saved about £86 per person in Y and £180 per person for any cabin above that.

But isn't APD is being reduced for UK domestic flights soon? Surely that will help with any decision BA makes in the near future regards it's suspended LHR-LBA route

 

[jason1-11]

INV had the massive advantage of no APD on the flight itself and any long haul connection, so if you started there you immediately saved about £86 per person in Y and £180 per person for any cabin above that.

I know that decision didn't go down well with the Management at ABZ as they lost passengers as a consequence.

 

[A400]

Whatever their plans are. Hopefully Leeds is on their radar. As lbaspotter points out the APD is reducing soon which could benefit LBA to get BA back.

One thing I would say is that they reconsider their flight times from what they were before as not everybody wants to travel at 11am especially if they are commuting to London for work. That’s if they will come back

 

[KARFA]

But isn't APD is being reduced for UK domestic flights soon? Surely that will help with any decision BA makes in the near future regards it's suspended LHR-LBA route

Yes, but it was never very much for domestic flights £13/£26 for Y and J, and being reduced to £6.50/£13 from 1 April 2023.

The main saving was if you were connecting on to long haul in premium economy and higher where you could save £180 currently, and going up to £192 from 1 April 2023. If you lived in Scotland (or even further afield) it is worth starting in INV.

EDIT: for LBA as well it was very dependent on connections - I think it had the highest percentage of connecting passengers for any BA domestic route and therefore it's only attractive to bring back when most of BA's (and other exLHR oneworld) long haul flights come back close to normal. The wild card is slots at LHR and whether the waiver changes sufficiently that BA must use them which may prompt them to re-start the route sooner.

LBA was never very attractive for point to point - and I don't believe timings would much change that - simply because of the poor transport links to the airport and the very well priced regular LNER trains. INV obviously has a high proportion of point to point since flying is very attractive compared to a 10 hour train journey.

 

[lbaspotter]

One thing I would say is that they reconsider their flight times from what they were before as not everybody wants to travel at 11am especially if they are commuting to London for work. That’s if they will come back

LBA-LHR was predominantly used for connections. Hence reason if BA decide come back I guess they would operate that mid morning rotation again.
Like @KARFA has said it will also depend on more long haul routes especially to the Far East and Asia reopening up sooner rather than later along wih that slot wavier at LHR be removed.

If I'm being honest @Bobby2000 I can't see a night stopper happening if BA do come back because the way they operate and advertised the route in the past.
Yes APD on UK Domestic flights being reduced has to be welcomed. But you have to consider all the extra costs involved which would mean fares have to increase making the whole operation unvaible. Eg Crew have to be put in a expensive overnight hotels, transfers from/to airport, use of prime time morning slots at LHR and so on.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

LBA-LHR was predominantly used for connections. Hence reason if BA decide come back I guess they would operate that mid morning rotation again.
Like @KARFA has said it will also depend on more long haul routes especially to the Far East and Asia reopening up sooner rather than later along wih that slot wavier at LHR be removed.

If I'm being honest @Bobby2000 I can't see a night stopper happening if BA do come back because the way they operate and advertised the route in the past.
Yes APD on UK Domestic flights being reduced has to be welcomed. But you have to consider all the extra costs involved which would mean fares have to increase making the whole operation unvaible. Eg Crew have to be put in a expensive overnight hotels, transfers from/to airport, use of prime time morning slots at LHR and so on.

100% correct.

 

[White Heather]

I believe INV had a night stopper, and obviously we didn't despite LBA regularly asking for one. I would guess that if LBA coughed up the set- up costs of a night stopper, things might change, but that's not going to happen. But the night stopper would drastically alter the passenger figures as the first departure was always the busiest.

 

[a300boy]

Chicken and egg once again !!
Maybe LCC might sponsor the flights for 12 months.

 

[lbaspotter]

Chicken and egg once again !!
Maybe LCC might sponsor the flights for 12 months.

It's a shame we have zero chance of West Yorkshire's mayor Tracy Barbin funding a BA night stopper or any other route/airline using LBA due to her Labour friends.

Unlike her Teesside Conservative counterpart whom props up his airport and subsidizes several Loganair & Ryanair routes.

 

[CM.]

Interesting. There’s speculation that we could get Leeds to London route back.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501928717387370497

 

[White Heather]

Interesting. There’s speculation that we could get Leeds to London route back.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501928717387370497

One can only hope.

 

[752]

very reliable source also..! lets hope ! (night stop please)!!

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Lets hope the environmentalists that complained like mad about the short route to Leeds and the need to use rail for domestics dont gain any traction. Getting this service back would be a massive plus.

 

[KARFA]

Are these the same environmentalists that also campaign against HS2? 😉 As Leeds will no longer have HS2, not that HS2 was ever going directly to LHR anyway, it's a bit of a red herring now.

In terms of LBA, it was always very heavily weighted towards connections anyway so a flight makes much more sense for that. The east coast service is quick, cheap, and frequent so the BA flight had much less point to point than other BA domestic routes.

 

[Starflyer]

New Flybe lining up for twice daily BHD-LBA-LHR to use their LHR slots, apparently. Direct AMS and BHD services to LHR also on the cards.

 

[lbaspotter]

Things are starting to make sense.

 

[AirBingley]

Hopefully some useful codeshares!

 

[Seasider]

New Flybe lining up for twice daily BHD-LBA-LHR to use their LHR slots, apparently. Direct AMS and BHD services to LHR also on the cards.

Why would they fly to LHR via LBA when they fly direct, unless it is 2 flights - BHD - LBA and LBA- LHR.
Here's hoping.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Hopefully some useful codeshares!

That would be essential.

 

[A400]

Well known source seems to be confirming what been said by others on here

https://twitter.com/x/status/1503049488344264707