British Airways’ new 12-times weekly London Heathrow-Paris Orly service announced today (October 15) could put pressure on Eurostar.
With Deutschebahn moving apace on its plans to launch cross-channel rail services, Eurostar’s dominance on the Paris-London hop could be on the wane.
Norman Gage, director of business travel at Advantage, said BA’s announcement “may well be an extra piece of pressure” on Eurostar.
And for BA, Gage added, by operating into Orly the airline may be able to lower the cost of its London-Paris flights enough to make flying a viable alternative.
“It’s to do with slots at Charles de Gaulle. If BA wants to increase the frequency of flights to Paris, Orly is the cheaper option,” he said.
“There are a few no-frills airlines that go to to Orly, so BA will be competing on those sorts of runs.”
In recent years, the frequent rail services offered by Eurostar have led to a reduction in flights on the short Paris-London hop.
Indeed, Eurostar said it expects the new BA route to have little impact on its operations, as it already has 80% of the market share.
A spokesman for the rail operator said: “For 16 years, Eurostar has embraced direct competition with short-haul airlines on the London to Paris route.”
He said the benefits of 10-minute check-in, uninterrupted work-time and the fact that trains arrive in the centre of Paris means business passengers are unlikely to move from rail to air.
"We know that these benefits coupled with the knowledge that passenger journey carbon emissions are as little as 10% of those associated with flying make Eurostar an extremely attractive proposition in comparison to the alternatives," added the Eurostar spokesman.
From January 10, flight BA334 will leave Heathrow (LHR) at 10.05am every day except Sunday, arriving into Orly (ORY) at 12.25pm.
Every day except Saturday, flight BA338 will leave LHR at 7.20pm and arrive into ORY at 9.40pm.
On the return leg from Paris, every day except Sunday, flight BA331 will leave ORY at 7.25am, arriving into LHR at 7.55am, while the second flight (BA335) will leave at 1.35pm and arrive at 2.05pm.
Colm Lact, BA’s general manager network planning, said the airport is “an excellent addition to our shorthaul network, allowing business travellers easy access to the Paris financial district”.
The new route may also be a boon for BA in terms of its route network, as customers will be able to connect onto flights to New York and Washington, operated by BA’s subsidiary Openskies out of Orly.
With no expansion possible at Heathrow, Orly may offer the airline another avenue for growing its network.
Iberia, currently in the the process of merging with BA, also operates flights from Orly.
The route will be served by A319, A320 and A321 aircraft in a two-class configuration (economy and business).
BA also operates flights from Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle.