September 21, 2009
British Airways Plc may begin tourist flights from London City airport next year to exploit the longer range of a new fleet of regional aircraft and boost volumes in the quietest months for business travel.
Destinations served using five E-190 jets on order from Brazilian manufacturer Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, or Embraer, could include the Spanish holiday islands of Majorca and Ibiza, British Airways said today.
“We would hope to put our toe in the water later next year,” Peter Simpson, managing director of BA’s CityFlyer unit, which will operate the aircraft, said in an interview in London. “We would look to sweat the assets.”
The 98-seat E-190 has a range of as much as 2,400 nautical miles (4,445 kilometers), according to Embraer’s Web site. That’s about 1,000 miles further than the BAE Systems Plc Avro RJ aircraft that they’re replacing.
CityFlyer currently offers nine routes from London City airport, which is located five miles from the U.K. capital’s financial district, to business destinations including Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. The carrier is taking 11 Embraer planes in total, including six smaller E-170s, the first of which will begin flights on Sept. 28.
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Yields at British Airways are “still pressure,” Gavin Halliday, the London-based company’s area general manager for Europe, said in a press briefing about the new fleet.
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