British Airways has moved quickly to boost its network of flights into London from Scotland following its recent purchase of bmi British Midland International by announcing the introduction of an up to three times daily link between London City and Aberdeen to be flown by its regional division BA CityFlyer.
The new flight will commence in September 2012 and will be operated using Embraer E-Jet equipment. It fulfills a long harboured interest from the management team at London City Airport to secure a direct connection to the Granite City, as its Sales Director, Benard Lavelle highlights: “Aberdeen has been on our hit list for a while, so it is good to see it taken up. There is lots of solid potential on this route.”
“Our direct flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow to London City are extremely popular with Scottish customers who want to want fly straight to the heart of the City, for business or leisure. We are delighted to be adding flights from Aberdeen linking Europe’s oil capital with the UK’s financial and business hub,” said Luke Hayhoe, Commercial Manager, BA CityFlyer. “It reflects the strength of the economy in Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland.”
Aberdeen has been an important part of the British Airways network for many years and the airline currently offers up to seven return flights per day to the city from London Heathrow. The new service will complement the existing route but perhaps more importantly it could persuade potential competitors to look elsewhere for network development.
BA CityFlyer’s largest rival at London City Airport is CityJet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air France, and it had previously announced its own intention to serve the Aberdeen route alongside its flights from the Docklands’ facility to Dundee and Edinburgh. However, the launch of these flights has been delayed pending approval by its parent company and it is now unclear if the carrier will go ahead with the plan.
The timing of British Airways’ announcement also suggests it is linked to the concessions that it has had to offer as part of the takeover of fellow UK carrier bmi by its parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) and the planned integration of the venture. Under the terms of the deal, the European Commission requested that the airline released 14 daily slot pairs at London Heathrow in order to facilitate new entrants. This total included seven slot pairs to facilitate new competition between London Heathrow and either Edinburgh and/or Aberdeen. The introduction of an additional three daily flights between London and Aberdeen from September will certainly make it much harder for a competitor to consider launching its own flights, even if it will secure slots at the capacity constrained London Heathrow.
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