London City – New York changes

BA has been forced to revise its LCY-JFK service due to the US Customs and Border Protection agency restricting its Shannon operation.  The flight is operated by a specially modified Airbus A318 which cannot take off from the dockland airport with enough fuel to reach America.  The twice daily service has to stop en-route at Shannon the US authorities providing immigration and security facilities at the Irish airport.  Passengers deplane, with their hand baggage, identify their luggage, and return to their original seats.

Effective from today (29 October) BA have discontinued the 13:00 departure, which now leaves at 09:50. Passengers will be allowed to stay in their seats at Shannon whilst fuel is added saving about 30 minutes.  The flight deck crew change but not the cabin staff.  Total travel time is about 9½ hours, 90 minutes more than LHR – JFK.

The popular 16:00 departure remains arriving 20:30.

There are slight timetable variations with the eastbound flights during the winter with the early service leaving around 19:00 (arrive 07:15) and the later flight 22:00 (arrive 10:00).  Scheduled time is 7hrs 30mins, about the same as the Heathrow service.  One advantage for London City Airport is that the aircraft is not on the ground for so long, freeing up critical apron space. www.ba.com

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