British Airways (BA) today (1 February) says that its new A318 service to the US will have to stop en route due to payload restrictions at London City Airport (LCY).
The Docklands airport has a 1,199M (3,934ft) runway limiting payload and despite BA saying it will configure the A318 with just 32 business class seats, the aircraft will have to stop at an unspecified destination en route.
Pilot speculation has centred on Shannon in Western Ireland as a possible re-fuelling point, with the potential of passengers using the time to clear American immigration as the airport has a deployment of US Customs and Border Protection officers, although this is unconfirmed.
Return flights will be direct, given the decrease in weight on arrival and the A318 is certified to land at LCY using the 5.5” descent approach. Airbus and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) spent four years testing before approving the A318 Steep Approach last year.
And LCY maintains it has no intention of extending the runway to allow increase payload departures. ”There”s no runway extension needed for this and we have no intention to do so at all,” said an airport spokesman.
”It doesn”t help ” it just adds to the operational difficulty of our approach and climbout. We”ve got it down to a 5.5” approach now, but if you extended the runway, you would fly closer to the built-up environment and would therefore need a steeper approach.”
BA remained equivocal concerning just which stopover it would use. ”We haven”t said where we”ll stop yet but we”re talking to a number of airports,” a spokeswoman told ABTN. ”It takes about 40min to refuel, so all in all with descent and ascent time it might add an hour to the journey.
”But if you work in the City of London, with our 15min check- in time it”s still a very quick and effective service - bearing in mind you have a 2h check-in at Heathrow, and you”ve got to get there.”
BA revealed its hand this morning with details of the business class only service, which will run twice-daily from London City to New York next year using A318 aircraft.
It will be the first airline to operate transatlantic routes from London”s business district, offering 32 fully flat bed seats in a 2x2 configuration.
”We will launch a new all business class niche service in 2009, linking the two largest financial centres of the world with flights from London City to New York on Airbus A318 aircraft,” said BA chief executive Willie Walsh.
”We are confident it will be a success as London City Airport is only a short distance from the heart of London's financial district."
The flag carrier has ordered two Airbus A318s to operate the route as part of BA mainline, at a list price of $58m (”29m) each ” suggesting these will be brand new aircraft.
Flights from New York will be direct, but BA has not clarified which airport it will fly to ” ”There”s currently a big slot review for New York airports, so we need a bit of time to determine which one we”ll fly to and from.”
LCY chief executive, Richard Gooding, added: ”We welcome BA”s continued commitment to its growth. This announcement comes at an important time for the airport as we prepare for the next stage of our development.”
BA has not divulged a firm date for service start.