US reopening hands British Airways a US$1b lifeline

[LONDON] Before Covid-19, there was the US$1 billion connection.

That was the revenue that British Airways generated each year linking its London Heathrow hub and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, where a healthy mix of tourist and business customers made it the most lucrative route on the planet.

More than 18 months after aviation was plunged into crisis, the corridor has finally reopened to Europeans, marking a major step in the return of long-haul travel. British Airways is commemorating the milestone with a one-off revival of the BA001 flight moniker that once reserved for supersonic Concorde trips, arguably the classiest way to fly across the Atlantic.

The likes of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and United Airlines Holdings also stand to benefit from a more robust trade between London, Paris and Frankfurt at one end and New York, Chicago and Los Angeles at the other.

Yet the market that reopened on Monday will be very different from the one that prevailed prior to the pandemic. Demand will be lower, with flights effectively limited to the fully vaccinated. The corporate road warriors who were once the North Atlantic's lifeblood are still largely grounded as firms avoid unnecessary travel, putting the onus on attracting leisure passengers.

And when business demand does pick up, it could be restricted by a preference for the money-saving video calls that redefined how remote colleagues interact. The US is letting in Europeans just as virus infections surge again across the continent. Germany's infection rate has climbed to the highest since the start of the pandemic, breaching 200 for the first time.

British Airways will face tough competition, as Heathrow-based Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and continental rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa also pour capacity into the diminished market. From the US, United is plotting an expansion across Europe, with new routes from spring including Bergen, Norway, and Mallorca in Spain.

"It's a critical turning point in the recovery of aviation," British Airways chief executive officer Sean Doyle said aboard the departing Airbus A350 aircraft, festooned with American flag bunting running the length of the plane. "We're taking steps to move quickly and rebuild our programme."

Long check-in lines at airports from Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle to Frankfurt highlighted the buoyant demand to get back on a trans-Atlantic flight. Heathrow suffered traffic jams getting into the terminal and long lines at security, in part because one of the two X-ray machines in the fast-track lane had broken down.

Owned by IAG, BA will scale up to six daily trips to JFK and 2 additional services to Newark Liberty International Airport by late winter. This will still be below the 12-a-day seasonal maximum offered to the New York area pre-pandemic, when North American services accounted for 15 per cent of BA's overall capacity, said aviation consultancy Cirium.

Flights were previously operated largely by Boeing's 747 jumbos, but with the ageing four-engine model retired from the BA fleet during the pandemic, the carrier's more efficient 777 twinjets will take on a bigger role, with all of the planes to be used on New York flights featuring a revamped business cabin.

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