RDU coming to LHR

[FA Mikey]

American said it will begin serving London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) from both Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. (RDU), effective March 29, 2008. Heathrow is one of Europe's premier airports with worldwide connections for those who wish to travel beyond London.

In addition, American will begin its new route between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and London's Stansted Airport effective Oct. 28, 2007. American also said it will begin a second roundtrip between JFK and Stansted in the spring of 2008. With express train service, Stansted is convenient to London's growing financial and business districts.

 

[s80dude]

American said it will begin serving London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) from both Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. (RDU), effective March 29, 2008. Heathrow is one of Europe's premier airports with worldwide connections for those who wish to travel beyond London.

In addition, American will begin its new route between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and London's Stansted Airport effective Oct. 28, 2007. American also said it will begin a second roundtrip between JFK and Stansted in the spring of 2008. With express train service, Stansted is convenient to London's growing financial and business districts.

Do we know what route is losing a 767 to support the new Stansted route, and if we are reducing service out of other cities to transfer slots? Did AA buy the slots from someone else, or did we take from current service?

 

[AirLUVer]

Possible that it could be 757 service to Stansted?

 

[MiAAmi]

in the press release it states JFK-STN is going to be a 767-300

"In addition to the new or upgraded London services, American will continue to serve London Heathrow from New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami.

Here are the tentative schedules of American's new or upgraded service to London (all times local):



Route: Service Begins: Departs Arrives: Aircraft:
JFK-STN Oct. 28, 2007 8:00 p.m. 8:15 a.m. 767-300
STN-JFK Oct. 29, 2007 10:15 a.m. 1:15 p.m. 767-300

 

[s80dude]

Possible that it could be 757 service to Stansted?

Press release called for a 767. I guess that is where the DFW-ZRH a/c will go, but I was under the impression that ORD-EZE was starting on the 27th of October. Maybe AA decided to go with the Stansted service instead of starting ORD-EZE.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

Wow, I didn't think I would ever see a carrier like AA serve London Stansted. That "airport" is a glorified bus station. But on the upside, you get to see lot of British holidaymakers (white trash, lots of mullets, wife beaters, interesting vocabulary, people sleeping on the floors, etc.)

Anyways, this is great news for me because it means no more getting from LHR to Liverpool Street station to catch the Stansted Express or the "coach" from LHR to Stansted.

So will the fares to LHR increase whereas the cheaper London fares be offered to Stansted?

American said it will begin serving London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) from both Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. (RDU), effective March 29, 2008.

Did AA get (buy?) more slots for the DFW and RDU flights or are they reducing frequency from other cities to LHR?

With express train service, Stansted is convenient to London's growing financial and business districts.

Convenient my foot. IIRC it is ~45-60 min from Stansted
to Liverpool Street station and the train is a POS compared to the Heathrow and Gatwick Express trains. Why bother to glossy it up and try to cater to business people, this is totally an airport for the tourist / backpacking crowd. Anyways, I'm not complaining, I actually thrilled a little. Way to go AA !!!!

 

[FA Mikey]

Wow, I didn't think I would ever see a carrier like AA serve London Stansted.

I think we did already for a very short time from ORD.

 

[AirLUVer]

sorry, the Dallas Morning News didn't have the full release with equipment types.

Given AA's beginnings with Europe being into mostly secondary cities, I wouldn't be surprised to know if AA had previously serviced Stansted.

RE Slots: It is possibly that AA purchased slots from BA or another oneworld carrier. AA does a lot of shuffling of slots with LAX/MIA for winter/summer service.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

RE Slots: It is possibly that AA purchased slots from BA or another oneworld carrier. AA does a lot of shuffling of slots with LAX/MIA for winter/summer service.

I hope they purchased additional slots instead of shuffling & re-allocating the 16 they previously had. Does this additional service make AA the #1 USA-based carrier to LHR & UK? How many flights does UA have to LHR? I would think that AA, by serving LHR (business crowd) and Stansted (tourist crowd) can maximize revenue & profit from its USA-UK flights.

 

[AMFAMAN]

But on the upside, you get to see lot of British holidaymakers (white trash, lots of mullets, wife beaters, interesting vocabulary, people sleeping on the floors, etc.)

Wow, excellent news for my union, the twu's finest are going to love to A5 there for vacation.

 

[TWU-GOTTA-GO]

Wow, excellent news for my union, the twu's finest are going to love to A5 there for vacation.

 

[FurloughedByAPFA]

in the press release it states JFK-STN is going to be a 767-300

"In addition to the new or upgraded London services, American will continue to serve London Heathrow from New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami.

Here are the tentative schedules of American's new or upgraded service to London (all times local):

JFK-STN Oct. 28, 2007 8:00 p.m. 8:15 a.m. 767-300
STN-JFK Oct. 29, 2007 10:15 a.m. 1:15 p.m. 767-300

In addition to the new or upgraded London services, American will continue to serve London Heathrow from New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami.

Here are the tentative schedules of American's new or upgraded service to London (all times local):



JFK-STN Oct. 28, 2007 8:00 p.m. 8:15 a.m. next day Boeing 767-300
STN-JFK Oct. 29, 2007 10:15 a.m. 1:15 p.m. same day Boeing 767-300
DFW-LHR March 29, 2008 5:20 p.m. 8:25 a.m. next day Boeing 777
LHR-DFW March 30, 2008 10:15 a.m. 2:15 p.m. same day Boeing 777
RDU-LHR March 29, 2008 6:25 p.m. 6:55 a.m. next day Boeing 777
LHR-RDU March 30, 2008 11:25 a.m. 2:55 p.m. same day Boeing 777
:blink:

 

[BoeingBoy]

"But it is understood that American Airlines has recently bought slots from Gulf Air, while Luxair, the small Luxembourg airline, is understood to have solicited offers for its Heathrow holdings, with a decision on a winning bidder likely to be taken within a fortnight. None of these airlines would comment yesterday."

Article

Jim

 

[IORFA]

While it might be perfectly possible AA bought slots, don't forget that they have 4 daily round trip slots from LGW to barter with as well. So, I could see a smaller carrier trading their slots at LHR for ours to LGW as well as a little cash incentive. Thus making it a lot cheaper than trying to buy from scratch. To whoever asked earlier about AA versus UA to LON, AA has MORE flights to LON. UA doesn't fly to LGW, only LHR. Even when considering only LHR, AA still has more daily flights. Then add in the 4 flights to LGW and AA is head and shoulders ahead of UA in the LON market. AA has 16 daily flights to LHR. 6 to JFK, 5 to ORD in the summer (4 in the winter), 2 to BOS, 2 in the winter to MIA (1 in the summer), and 1 to LAX in the winter (2 in the summer). Plus the LGW schedule. 1 to RDU, 2 to DFW in the winter (3 in the summer)

 

[MAH4546]

While it might be perfectly possible AA bought slots, don't forget that they have 4 daily round trip slots from LGW to barter with as well. So, I could see a smaller carrier trading their slots at LHR for ours to LGW as well as a little cash incentive. Thus making it a lot cheaper than trying to buy from scratch. To whoever asked earlier about AA versus UA to LON, AA has MORE flights to LON. UA doesn't fly to LGW, only LHR. Even when considering only LHR, AA still has more daily flights. Then add in the 4 flights to LGW and AA is head and shoulders ahead of UA in the LON market.

AA didn't buy slot, nor are they trading for Gatwick slots which aren't worth squat.

The new flights will come at the expense of current service, but it has not been decided which ones. That is why they are starting JFK-STN. To keep the daily number of flights to London the same, along with competing against Maxjet/Eos (Maxjet is set to announce MIA soon...wonder if AA will respond to that).