British Airways Cuts Flights To Australia

[Ryan N]

From: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/b...-1226119444510

BRITISH Airways is cutting direct flights to Australia from two a day to just one after axing its service from London to Sydney via Bangkok. From March, BA will operate one London to Sydney daily flight, stopping at Singapore on the way. After decades of flying the London-Bangkok-Sydney route, BA said it will stop at the Thai hub. Passengers wishing to fly on to Australia will be transferred to Qantas. Under the agreement, the Australian carrier will also stop in Bangkok and move passengers for London onto BA flights. A similar route via Hong Kong has already suffered the same fate, with the Oneworld alliance partners swapping passengers at the Asian hub. It leaves London-Singapore-Sydney as the last remaining direct daily flight to Australia. BA will swap the current Boeing 777 plane used on the route for a larger 747 to squeeze more passengers on board.

The move conforms with the aim to strengthen the airlines' Singapore hub and provide better connections and service for passengers on flights between London and Australia. The company denied this was the beginning of the end for the airline's historic links with Australia. "We are absolutely committed to Australia," it said. The revised joint service agreement between the carriers will allow BA to lease two precious pairs of landing slots at Heathrow from Qantas. It has not yet decided what it will do with them.

[Andrew Johnson]

Wouldn't you think Singapore Inc might take revenge on TT's grounding which now seems a bit dodgy ?

I wouldn't be surprised if once QF pulls off HKG/LHR & BKK/LHR, that either QF or BA aircraft might get "stuck" in SIN, ie. sit on ground for hours & hours as SIN can't "find" a gate for them to use.

SQ "owns" SIN so seems SQ would have "all the power".

Seems a case of putting all eggs in 1 basket.

[Peter Agatsiotis]

Seems a bit extreme Andrew. Singapore has to restrict the number of arrivals/departures due to its proximity to Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian airspace.

Back in 2005 I was on QF5 to Frankfurt and we had a few problems (APU went bung)when we taxiied out for dep to FRA. Back to the gate for repairs and then there was a fuel load problem. End result 4 hour delay and then we were told that (even at midnight) there was only one departure every 10 mins permitted which added to the delay.

Things may have changed since then but can't see any repercussions if and when these changes occur.

[Zac M]

Wouldn't you think Singapore Inc might take revenge on TT's grounding which now seems a bit dodgy ?

You must be joking! Ask yourself the following questions and post your answers.
1. What does QF and BA have to do with the grounding of TT?
2. What percentage of TT is owned by SQ?