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British Airways has announced that it will introduce mobile phone technology on its business-class only flights between London City Airport and New York JFK.

Passengers travelling on the twice-daily route, set to launch in the autumn, will be able to send and receive text messages and emails during the flight, and access the internet.

“‘The service is aimed at people in the Square Mile,’” said a spokesman for BA. “‘We believe the route and the new technology will offer an appealing package to business travellers.’”

source: telegraph.co.uk

The ambitious consolidation strategy piloted by British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh started to unravel yesterday after merger talks with Australian rival Qantas were terminated.

Discussions to create a global airline based in London and Sydney have been under strain since they became public at the beginning of this month, with Qantas boss Alan Joyce warning of “‘significant hurdles'” to a deal.

Days earlier Walsh had extolled the virtues of creating a “truly global” airline, adding the simultaneous pursuit of deals with Spain’s Iberia and with American Airlines would not hamper progress.

source: Guardian.co.uk

British Airways is in merger talks with the Australian airline Qantas in a deal that could create the world’s first global airline.

BA has also been discussing a merger with Iberia, the Spanish national carrier, and hopes to expand its alliance with American Airlines. The combination of the four would create the largest airline in the world which would be capable of carrying 198 million passengers a year – nearly six times BA’s current traffic.

Historically, the aviation industry has been highly fragmented, with each country trying to operate its own flag carrier and guard against competition.

source: Times Online

British Airways is to resume flights to Riyadh and Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, in March, after a four year gap in services.

The growing importance of Middle-Eastern investors to Western economies means the routes which British Airways abandoned in 2005, as oil prices started to climb, are now commercially viable.

Previously the routes had been dogged by security problems, with the airline having to suspend services at certain times in the years immediately after 9/11.

source: Times On Line

British Airways has launched a remote check-in service, allowing travellers ”on the go” to check-in for flights wherever they may be, via their mobile handsets. The service is quick, free and available in 11 languages – without any need to download accompanying software.

This latest initiative follows the success of the recent iPhone Apple application from BA, allowing iPhone users the opportunity to check-in via handsets. Proving to be a popular product, there were more than 16,000 UK downloads in its first month of launch alone.

source: Easier

The chief executive of British Airways PLC said he expects consolidation in the airline industry to speed up, but he added that the London-based carrier will be extremely selective in the companies it chooses to team up with.

Speaking at an analyst conference in New York, CEO Willie Walsh forecast more airlines will falter in the coming months as global economic conditions remain tentative. But Walsh said the company will not invest in weakened companies that might put British Airways’ financial position at risk.

source: Business Week

British Airways has been criticised for regularly blaming cancelled flights on ”extraordinary circumstances” to avoid paying compensation.

A Dutch campaigner says BA uses the ploy to bypass EU laws created to protect passengers.

BA has scrapped one in 50 of flights to and from Heathrow this year, with the 6.35pm plane to Frankfurt cancelled 27 times.

source: DailyMail.co.uk

British Airways has “indefinitely” cancelled all flights to the Pakistani capital Islamabad amid security concerns after the bombing of the Marriott hotel, the airline said Tuesday.BA issued a statement confirming the cancellation of its six weekly services to Islamabad, the only destination it flies to in Pakistan, a day after saying that it was only temporarily suspending flights.

“In light of the security situation in Pakistan, British Airways has cancelled its flights from Islamabad to Heathrow indefinitely,” a British Airways statement said.

source: AFP

British Airways PLC said its planned business-class only flight from London’s City Airport — which is just a 14-minute train ride from the city’s financial district of Canary Wharf — to New York will allow passengers to complete U.S. arrival checks in Ireland.

The airline said that the route’s refueling stop at Shannon airport, in western Ireland, will double as the port where passengers will go through U.S. immigration checks, meaning they’ll be able to skip them when they land in New York, and speed straight into the city.

source: Business week

The airlines, along with Iberia, a prospective partner of British Airways, said on Thursday that they planned to apply for antitrust approval from the Transportation Department to form a marketing alliance to link their global flight networks.

American and British Airways tried twice before to bring about such an arrangement, only to face stiff requirements from regulators. But the aviation landscape has changed significantly since they first proposed the deal in 1996. Then, flights between the United States and Heathrow Airport near London were strictly controlled, and deals between big airlines were routinely viewed as anticompetitive.

source: New York Times