New Service

[L1011Ret]

An announcement coming on Wednesday.

 

[eolesen]

Jeff Fagen, CEO for DFW Airport will be making the announcement from London, not Texas, which leads me to believe it might not be about AA, but BA, since London is their hometown.

BA has more than enough slots to add DFW-LHR (or simply move their existing DFW-LGW), and having service from a carrier other than AA for a change would certainly be newsworthy.

Press Release Source: DFW International Airport

Webcast Alert: DFW International Airport Announces Major New
International Service
Monday June 25, 6:15 pm ET

DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Texas, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas Fort
Worth International Airport, the world's third busiest airport, will
make a major announcement on new international service. DFW Chief
Executive Officer Jeff Fegan will be making the announcement from the
United Kingdom.

What: DFW International Airport Announces Major New International
Service

When: June 27, 2007, 9 AM EDT

Where: http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=40488

How: Live over the Internet -- Simply log on to the web at the
address above.

 

[jimntx]

Considering that BA and AA are OneWorld partners, I question how much "competition" this would bring to that market. I know that they can not codeshare on markets they both serve, but can DFW-LGW and DFW-LHR be considered "different" markets or is the market considered to be Dallas-Ft. Worth/London? Small, but subtle distinction.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

Considering that BA and AA are OneWorld partners, I question how much "competition" this would bring to that market. I know that they can not codeshare on markets they both serve, but can DFW-LGW and DFW-LHR be considered "different" markets or is the market considered to be Dallas-Ft. Worth/London? Small, but subtle distinction.

Wouldn't it be better for AA to give up DFW-LGW so that they can codeshare from LHR? Also the cities that have BA service to LHR, they will not be able to do the codeshare either? ie. SEA-DFW-LHR?

 

[eolesen]

Restrictions on AAdvantage accrual state "British Airways' transatlantic flights to/from the U.S. are not valid for AAdvantage mileage accrual or redemption."

IIRC, similar restrictions exist for codewhoring (i.e. not permitted on flights between the UK and US).

Since BA and AA don't do revenue sharing like Star Alliance or Skyteam, it really is competition. With revenue sharing, UA and LH combine the revenue in markets which are sold as both UA and LH (even if only one carrier actually operates there), and then split it based on a proration formula. Likewise with KL & NW.

With the current AA/BA restrictions, what BA earns, BA keeps. Likewise with AA, so there really is some degree of competition, especially since you also don't get mileage when you fly the other carrier (which does keep me from flying BA across the North Atlantic unless there's no other alternative).

I suspect that with Open Skies at LHR being a reality in less than a year, all of the restrictions on both mileage and codewhoring for AA and BA are short lived. Bermuda II's restrictions were the last roadblock to receiving antitrust immunity. My guess is that they'll file for ATI once CO, NW, and DL have all secured slots at LHR. So far, DL has theirs from AF, and there were hints earlier in the month that NW has slots from KL. Not sure where that leaves CO, since all three of the US carriers partner with AF and KL via Skyteam.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

Restrictions on AAdvantage accrual state "British Airways' transatlantic flights to/from the U.S. are not valid for AAdvantage mileage accrual or redemption."

IIRC, similar restrictions exist for codewhoring (i.e. not permitted on flights between the UK and US).

Since BA and AA don't do revenue sharing like Star Alliance or Skyteam, it really is competition. With revenue sharing, UA and LH combine the revenue in markets which are sold as both UA and LH (even if only one carrier actually operates there), and then split it based on a proration formula. Likewise with KL & NW.

With the current AA/BA restrictions, what BA earns, BA keeps. Likewise with AA, so there really is some degree of competition, especially since you also don't get mileage when you fly the other carrier (which does keep me from flying BA across the North Atlantic unless there's no other alternative).

I suspect that with Open Skies at LHR being a reality in less than a year, all of the restrictions on both mileage and codewhoring for AA and BA are short lived. Bermuda II's restrictions were the last roadblock to receiving antitrust immunity. My guess is that they'll file for ATI once CO, NW, and DL have all secured slots at LHR. So far, DL has theirs from AF, and there were hints earlier in the month that NW has slots from KL. Not sure where that leaves CO, since all three of the US carriers partner with AF and KL via Skyteam.

Thanks for the informative post, I am starting to understand that alot more now.

 

[Skymess]

Jeff Fagen, CEO for DFW Airport will be making the announcement from London, not Texas, which leads me to believe it might not be about AA, but BA, since London is their hometown.

BA has more than enough slots to add DFW-LHR (or simply move their existing DFW-LGW), and having service from a carrier other than AA for a change would certainly be newsworthy.

About a month and a half ago they had a blurb on the flight service web site stating we had the slot and were looking to start it as soon as we could secure gates.

Someone wrote a follow up question about it the other day. this was the question and answer:


Q. When we do start DFW/LHR, will we continue to serve LGW out of DFW?


A. We are evaluating DFWLHR service in connection with the new air service agreement between the U.S. and the European Union. As part of that work, all of our London service offerings will be evaluated. Even though we will have the route authority to fly from DFW into LHR, we’ll also need to obtain LHR slots for any new service. We’ll announce a decision when we have one. Capacity Planning

 

[eolesen]

This just out from the FTW Star-Telegram:

D/FW to announce historic nonstop flight to Heathrow
By DAVID WETHE
dwethe@star-telegram.com

Top executives for Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and British Airways are expected to announce an historic new nonstop flight from North Texas to London Heathrow Airport on Wednesday.

Jeff Fegan, the airport's chief executive, is expected to announce the flight on a conference call along with Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, according to a source, who was not authorized to make the announcement and declined to be identified.

British Airways operates a daily nonstop from D/FW to London's smaller airport, Gatwick. It's expected to switch that service to Heathrow, Europe's largest air hub.

The changes are happening because of the so-called "Open Skies Agreement" between the United States and the European Union struck in late April. It allows any airline to fly any route between the United States and Europe and, most importantly, it opens U.S.-Heathrow routes to competition for the first time.

Under previous treaty, only four airlines were allowed to fly between the U.S. and Heathrow: United, American, British Airways, and the U.K.’s Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

The D/FW route switch promises to be significant for North Texas, because it opens up far more connections to Europe, Africa and Asia. The new flight is expected to significantly add international traffic to D/FW's new Terminal D.

Flights to Heathrow are expected to begin sometime around March 30, 2008, when the agreement takes effect.

In a news release distributed Monday afternoon, D/FW Airport said it would be making a “major announcement on new international service." The release also said Fegan would make the announcement from the United Kingdom. The airport declined to comment further.

D/FW sends about 28,000 passengers a year to Heathrow through other airports.

American Airlines, a code-share partner with British Airways and the dominant carrier at D/FW, has two nonstop daily flights from North Texas to Gatwick Airport.

The Fort Worth-based carrier "has it under consideration" to switch one of its two D/FW flights to Heathrow from Gatwick, said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American.

It also has a number of flights from other U.S. cities to Heathrow. And the airline could switch any number of those flights to D/FW Airport if it wanted to, Smith said.

David Wethe, (817) 685-3803

 

[s80dude]

This just out from the FTW Star-Telegram:

So no real gain in flying, just switching service from one airport to another. Still good news.... DFW finally has big boy London service.

 

[jimntx]

Actually, Texas is a big winner here. BA also announced today that their two daily non-stops from IAH are also switching to LHR from LGW.

First, we have no flights from Texas to LHR, now we have 3.

 

[MiAAmi]

An announcement coming on Wednesday.

right routing just wrong airline

 

[BuffaloJoe]

Actually, Texas is a big winner here. BA also announced today that their two daily non-stops from IAH are also switching to LHR from LGW.

First, we have no flights from Texas to LHR, now we have 3.

Currently, doesn't the one IAH flight stop in Detroit?