BRITISH AIRWAYS has outlined radical plans to raise the size of aircraft, which it flies from London's heavily congested Heathrow Airport.
As part of the plan, BA is increasing pressure on Boeing for a stretched, 500-seat, 747 to come into service within the next four years. It is looking for a New Large Aircraft (NLA) with more than 600 seats within the next decade.
On short/medium-haul services, the airline will also end Boeing 737 operations from the airport, while upgrading to the Boeing 777 or Airbus A330 on the busiest routes (Flight International, 15-21 March).
BA chairman Sir Colin Marshall acknowledges that Heathrow is already "effectively full", with no prospect for additional runway capacity, but believes that the planned fleet changes will give the airline room for 47% passenger growth over the next 15 years.
The comments come as BA prepares for a public hearing over proposals to build a fifth passenger terminal at Heathrow.
The addition of Terminal 5 is designed to raise passenger-handling capacity from 52 million to 80 million, but with a modest rise in air-traffic movements.
Assuming that Heathrow achieves the targeted growth, BA would aim to maintain its 45% share of passenger traffic, raising its total from 23 million up to around 36 million. At the same time, its fleet would expand by only 12, mostly long haul, aircraft.
BA now flies a long-haul fleet of 70 aircraft, ranging from 20 Boeing 767s through to 747-400s. Over the next 15 years, the smaller aircraft will be stripped out, leaving a fleet, which starts with the 747.
The airline says that it "...understands from the manufacturers" that a stretched 747 "...could be available" by 1998/9 and that an NLA is likely to be in service within the 2004/5 timeframe. Terminal 5 will be built with stands designed to accommodate a future NLA.
Marshall acknowledges that, under this plan, even the existing Boeing 777s might be too small for BA's future long-haul operations.
Boeing says that it will not take a decision on a 747 stretch until completion of its studies on an NLA with Airbus in mid-July. It acknowledges, however, that "...customers keep asking for more range and payload out of their 747s". Boeing is studying a basic stretch, which would bring range penalties, or a re-winged aircraft.
BA stresses that the Heathrow short-haul fleet will also undergo a radical revision, with the entry-level aircraft being raised to the 180-seat Boeing 757. Smaller aircraft will be moved to other airports, with feeder services at Heathrow continuing to be provided by BA's franchise partners.
By replacing 737s with 757 or 767 services on dense routes, such as between Heathrow and Brussels, BA calculates that it can raise capacity by 35% without adding a single extra frequency.
At the top end of the short-haul fleet, BA envisages running aircraft with more than 350 seats, which could be either the 777 or the A330. It will also look for stretched higher-capacity versions of these aircraft.
Source: Flight International
