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British Airways: Serving the World from Belfast City
British Airways’ service from Belfast City Airport to London Heathrow has been described many times as something of a lifeline amongst today’s much larger selection of air routes operating into and out of Belfast’s two airports.
But, more importantly than that, the British Airways (BA) Heathrow link connects Northern Ireland travellers with an unrivalled global network. Not only is it back to profitability as a route on its own, but it feeds into a BA international network which is also flying high.
“There’s no doubt that the market for full service international travel is back where it should be,” says Brenda Morgan MBE, BA’s Partnership Manager for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. “Belfast to Heathrow is a profitable route and it’s an important route for the airline because a high proportion of passengers travel onwards on BA international services.”
Thanks to the introduction of a separate cabin on Domestic flights brought in by the airline just last year, Club Europe, those passengers can travel the whole way in business class, and this option is already proving very popular.
But all of this doesn’t mean that travelling with BA means higher fares. “It’s definitely not the case,” says Brenda Morgan. “For those simply travelling to London, our fares are competitive with those offered by other airlines. And for those flying on overseas, we’ve introduced a range of basic fares which allows passengers to decide if they want a bag, pre-assigned seat and they will soon be able to add Wifi to that package - ideal for the leisure customers in particular.
“On BA long-haul, no matter what fares you’re travelling on, you won’t pay for food, you won’t pay for a blanket and pillow and you won’t pay for entertainment headphones.”
BA’s attention to the needs of connecting passengers underlines their importance to the airline. Passengers on flights out of Belfast City will have noticed that mobile technology enables cabin crew to identify passengers and their final destinations.
“So our crew will know that you’re travelling onwards to Washington, for example, and they’ll be able to help with issues like tight connections, and where possible resolve any issues that the passenger is experiencing. The BA App has also seen a huge investment to keep our passengers informed while on the move, it can also assist with baggage queries, seat reservations and flight changes. It’s all part of the service these days.”
BA’s local manager advised that the airline has just launched a huge investment plan to transform the product that is offered to customers. “We are in year one of a five year investment plan and we are investing $88million in transforming the lounge product alone,” she says. “Our US lounges have been upgraded and the biggest of them all, the lounge at Terminal 7 in JFK Airport, New York, has just been completed as has the new BA lounge in Boston.
“It’s a huge investment for the airline, and consistency is crucial. Whether the lounge is in New York or Aberdeen, it has to have the same look and feel. When you consider that we have eight lounges at Terminal 5 in Heathrow, that puts the scale of the operation into perspective.
“There’s no doubt that the business class market is back. Passengers want to upgrade now and we’ve taken a long, hard look at how we do all aspects of our Club World/Club Europe service... from check-in through to dedicated security, to boarding and to all aspects of the on-board service.”
Another major investment of £400million over the five year period will see BA introducing its new Club World seat/bed next year, complete with direct aisle access for each passenger combined with the fine dining experience and WIFI.
Back on Belfast-Heathrow,Brenda Morgan says thatload factors on the route arerunning at really high levels.
“Any uncertainty around Brexitor anything else certainly isn’tbeing reflected in passengernumbers,” she adds.
British Airways recently introduced faster bio-metric boarding gates at London Heathrow, reducing the important amount of time that it takes to turn each aircraft around once it is on stand.
“We’re winning back passengers who have been using international services out of Dublin Airport, and that’s important for us. Our message to the travelling public is that they can fly straight out of BelfastCity and access an international network that really couldn’t be any more comprehensive.”
Despite the existence of anumber of direct transatlanticflights out of Dublin, BA sees increasing numbers of NorthernIreland passengers flying to theUSA via Heathrow every day ofthe week. The airline’s Las Vegasroute is particularly popular withNI travellers.....although whatthat says about us isn’t clear!
“The future is all about growing our business here in NorthernIreland, and that means a whole lot more than travellers flying between here and London Heathrow. We are a full service airline and we’re proud of that. But we’re also an airline that can be as competitive on price as any other.”
British Airways offers fou rreturn flights daily into the bespoke Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, and that extends to eight daily when you add in codeshare partner Aer Lingus’ services into Terminal 2.
Brenda Morgan MBE, BA’s Partnership Manager for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
