British Airways To Launch Luxury NYC-London Flights

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 28th 2009 at 10:01PM

It was an idea that flopped phenomenally in the past (see Silverjet, MaxJet and EOS, three business-only London to NYC flight companies which all folded) but now British Airways is giving luxury all-business service between London and New York a shot. However the fact that the airline will fly just 32 passengers on an aircraft normally fitted for 100 people doesn't sit well with some environmental groups. The Guardian reports that environmental group Plane Stupid will stage a protest at London City Airport tomorrow as the maiden flight launches, angered by the fact that recently British Airways CEO Willie Walsh had pledged that the airline would do its part to fight climate change. The layout of the plane means that each passenger is basically responsible for three times the emissions of a regular flight.

British Airways will offer twice daily service on Airbus A318s with flat beds and access to the internet. Round-trip fares will start at around $3,00 but go up to nearly $8,000 for more flexible tickets. Flights leaving from London will be forced to make a brief refuelling stop at Shannon airport in the west of Ireland because the London City airport's runway is too short to handle an A318 aircraft with a full fuel load. In order to ease the journey, BA is arranging for passengers to use the Shannon stop to clear US customs and immigration.

Tags: airlines, british airways, BritishAirways, business class, BusinessClass, flights

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jasonfgd Sep 29th 2009 12:06AM

that's interesting; you can clear US customs from outside of the country. that must be a first.

R Kenigsberg Sep 29th 2009 7:46AM

Cruise and ocean liners use customs onboard when they do transatlantics. They will probably have an immigration officer(s) onboard the flight.

Lisa Sep 29th 2009 9:37AM

There's actually customs & immigration at Shannon airport. There are in several places outside the US where there are a lot of travelers - it allows flights to go to airports that don't have Customs. Toronto also has it which allows flights from Toronto to go to non-international airports in the US