David Learmount/LONDON
BRITISH AIRWAYS IS TO base an additional eight wide bodied aircraft at London Gatwick Airport, to fly routes transferred from the carrier's premier international hub, Heathrow.
Robert Ayling, BA's managing director, says that, with a growth rate of 6% a year and severe capacity constraints at Heathrow, the carrier has to transfer its lower-density scheduled routes to Gatwick.
"Over the next five to seven years [until the proposed Terminal 5 starts to come on line], we must find ways to expand our business at Heathrow on routes where the demand is greatest," he says.
BA is, therefore, to move all its sub-Saharan African schedules, except South African services, from Heathrow to Gatwick early in 1996. The airline is also taking over operation of US routes to Baltimore, Charlotte and Pittsburgh from its code-share partner, USAir.
The six African destinations are Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; Entebbe, Uganda; Harare, Zimbabwe; Lilongwe, Malawi; Lusaka, Zambia; and Nairobi, Kenya.
To accommodate the switch, BA is to base an additional four Boeing 747-200s, three 767-200s and a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 at Gatwick.
During the last 12 months, BA has flown 4.7 million passengers from Gatwick, or 40% of the airport's scheduled traffic, according to airport owner BAA. The airline has steadily increased its European scheduled operations there since its 1992 acquisition of Dan-Air. Ayling says, that transfer traffic at Gatwick has grown, from 17% to 27% in two years.
American Airlines quotes route losses amounting to "millions" of dollars as the reason for dropping its Nashville, USA-London Gatwick, UK, daily schedule on 1 October after 17 months. Load factors were high, says American, but fare yields were not sufficient.
Source: Flight International
