FYI, JonNYC tweets that the LHR slot pairs are not what JetBlue wanted and they are trying to get better ones. I personally don't think they are that bad. The departure times out of JFK/BOS would be better if they are 2 hours earlier, but 10 pm still offers some conections and are not bad for working a full day and getting on a plane. They do get in a little late. The departures time out of LHR seems to be pretty good for O&D, but bad for connection.
PSA727 wrote:tphuang wrote:
As for LGW not having access, that's funny. We have at least 2 major carriers VS and DY that are not going to be operating out of LGW anytime soon. And JetBlue should worry about not having access to LGW slots?
I never said B6 won't have access to slots at LGW. I said B6 might not get access to more slots at LHR. That's why it would be wise to start at least one daily flight to LGW. And where slots are available and much cheaper than at LHR. Or does B6 only want to have 1 daily flight to London from BOS and JFK? Also, they need better slot pairs at LHR. The post-6pm departure from LHR for both flights means an arrival time into BOS and JFK around 9pm. Which means no onward connections from either airport as the minimum connection time should be at least 90 minutes in order to clear customs and immigration. So while B6 customers can have an easy connection to London on the outbound, they will have to overnight it at BOS or JFK on the return.
I still don't see why they would need to fly LGW now? LGW is not bad, but LHR slots are harder to get. LHR is the preferred airport. IIRC, the OTP numbers out of LGW are horrible compared to LHR due to being single runway airport.
I think there is a good chance if they have 2 slot pairs (or more) through the winter season, they will be grandfathered the rights to those pairs. My reasoning is because:
1) there was a report back a while back of LHR studying to add more slots (even without the 3rd runway). So there is potential for accommodating more slots.
2) When slot waiver gets lifted, large slot holders are unlikely to fully utilize their slots for a while. Adding a small number of daily slot pairs is unlikely to hurt OTP that much. LHR would appreciate the additional revenue from those flights.
3) The existing holders have not much to complain about since they have already received a long period of slot waiver
As for LGW, I think LGW slots will be wide open once that slot waiver goes away. There is just no way DY and VS can hold onto that many slots when they have no intention of flying there. So if B6 need LGW slots next summer, they should be able to just get them. If they have to operate in both LHR and LGW for a while, then they should just do that.