Article from BTNews 24 OCTOBER 2016
Win one, lose one for BA
British Airways gained a new route and lost an existing one last week, announcing it would launch flights between Heathrow and New Orleans next March while suspending its Heathrow – Chengdu service from January.
The New Orleans service will be four times a week using a three-cabin B787-9 Dreamliner with 35 seats in Business Class, 25 in Premium Economy and 154 in Economy.
New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau president and CEO Stephen Perry said the new partnership with BA, which follows four years of negotiations, would “drive the brand of New Orleans as a world destination not only in the UK, but throughout the European continent”.
Meanwhile, BA said it was suspending the Chengdu route, which it launched in 2013, because it was “not commercially viable”. The last outbound flight will be on 12 January, with the return leaving Chengdu the next day.
Some observers last week were linking the BA moves with the debate over Heathrow’s future capacity and the shortage of slots at the airport, suggesting BA would prefer to use the Chengdu slots for a potentially more popular destination – such as New Orleans.
OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)
All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum