Airbus has announced that British Airways has signed-up to buy two A318 aircraft to launch all business class services between London City Airport and New York. The A318 is the largest aircraft certified by EASA for the unusually steep approach procedures at the airport in London’s Docklands to the east of the city.
BA’s order for the smallest member of the A320 family boosts the number of A318 customers to 13. The British airline already operates 70 A320 family aircraft and has an additional 20 on order, in addition to a recent commitment for 12 A380 “super jumbo” aircraft.
Willie Walsh (BA’s chief executive) says that the A318 is perfect for these trail-blazing flights to New York. “It is large enough for us to provide the number of business class seats required to make this a viable operation,” he says.
Operations at city centre airports are often constrained by shorter runways, high buildings and stringent noise limits. However, the A318 can land on very short runways and the agreed steep approach procedure results in a 5.5% decent angle - rather than the standard 3%. The A318 also climbs out and reaches cruising altitude faster than any other aircraft operating out of London City - and with significantly reduced noise over previous generation aircraft - making it ideal for these trans-Atlantic operations.
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Source: Flight Daily News