It seems British Airways is finally waking up to the growing threat out of its Gatwick hub (long over-ignored) with the announcement of a new route between London Gatwick and Oakland in California.
Three Class British Airways Boeing 777-200ER at Denver – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
British Airways will be operating this route 4 times a week in the initial phase.
Operations look a little like this:
BA2279 DEPART LGW 10:20 ARRIVE OAK 13:15 Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays BA2279 DEPART LGW 11:25 ARRIVE OAK 14 20 Tuesdays BA2278 DEPART OAK 15:05 ARRIVE LGW 09:25+1 Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays BA2278 DEPART OAK 16:10 ARRIVE LGW 10:30+1 Tuesdays Commences 28th March 2017 Booked Equipment: 3-class Boeing 777-200ER.
The route will be operated with a 3-class Boeing 777-200ER.
Lead-in prices start at
- £189 each way based on a return fare in World Traveller,
- £448 in World Traveller Plus each way based on a return fare
- £998 in Club World each way based on a return fare
With this move, the airline will serve the three international airports in the San Francisco Bay region (San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland).
But maybe more importantly for British Airways – it begins the all-out war with Norwegian Air Shuttle who operate the exact same route out of London Gatwick.
British Airways seemly has been pondering how to deal with the low-cost competitor out of its Gatwick base – which has been slowly eating its share.
Already, BA has taken the fight to Norwegian – competing head-to-head on the Gatwick-New York JFK and Gatwick-Fort Lauderdale pairs.
It seems that the airline that was dismissed by the legacies as unimportant is finally making people stop and take look…
For the passenger it means competition. And hopefully – lower prices.
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