anna.aero had the opportunity to spend 30 seconds with Heathrow Airport’s Executive Commercial Director Fidel Lopez as well as CCO, Guy Stephenson from competing hub London Gatwick – just 55km across town. Both want more runway capacity for their respective airports, but seemingly only one will get it.
The UK still handles more airport passengers each year than any other European country, but which airports have done well in the last 12 months and which have seen passenger numbers fall? We compare growth rates region by region.
We have one of our free, downloadable spreadsheets to accompany this week’s lead story which compares the global networks of Europe’s four leading hub airports. Which airport offers the most destinations in Africa, Latin America, China, India, Russia, the UK and the USA?
Having lost its partner airline bmi, Virgin Atlantic now announces own short haul operations as Virgin Group swaps trains for planes between London and Manchester. The airline plans to start Heathrow – Manchester flights next March using its own slots. But how has traffic developed between the two cities since 2004?
And so bmi British Midlands is gradually being absorbed by British Airways. Which routes have already been integrated into BA in time for this winter and which additional new routes is BA planning from Heathrow? What does this mean for BA’s Gatwick operation?
While its future direction remains in doubt anna.aero takes a look at which international country markets American Airlines has increased capacity this June, and where it has cut capacity. Which leading country market has seen a capacity cut despite the addition of a new route?
Lufthansa was unable to find buyers for bmibaby and bmi regional. Will BA have better luck? If not it would seem that the two airlines’ days are numbered. We take a closer look at the fleet and route networks of the two niche carriers to see what prospective purchasers would be getting.
London’s Heathrow Airport recently passed 70 million annual passengers for the first time, and it still has only two runways (though when it was first built it actually had six). But which carriers have appeared (and disappeared) this summer, and which carriers have started new routes? And which have dropped routes?
The UK government is apparently waking up to the importance of aviation as an enabler of economic growth. But what are the difficulties of proposing an all-new estuary airport as the solution? What can be learnt from the recently published results of last year’s CAA passenger surveys which included all London airports?
American Airlines may finally have succumbed to sales pressure from Toulouse but how has its global network been developing this year? How have things changed in the last 15 years? How many non-US airports are in its top 12 for weekly ASKs? And which new international routes has the carrier launched this year?
How does BA compare with Air France and Lufthansa in terms of growth during the last decade? How does its network reach compare with its European rivals? And which country markets and routes generate the most ASKs for the airline? What route enhancements have been made in the last 18 months?
