Our marketer on the ground, Simon Burrell, has spent many years working in and travelling across different regions of the world and now runs his own global travel website, ‘Our Man On The Ground’. In this, his regular DMI column, he offers a marketer’s eye view of…

The classy business of flying across ‘The Pond’

Are you fed up with waiting to clear immigration when you arrive in the US? I was lucky a couple of years ago . . . landing one Saturday afternoon and managing to be in a cab just 20 minutes after stepping off the plane at JFK! But that was rare.  Most people find themselves having to wait for at least an hour or so.

Well, welcome to British Airway’s, which recently introduced business class-only flights out of London’s City Airport.

Some of you may recall Maxjet operating services out of London Stansted to JFK. Founded in 2003, it also operated routes to and from Washington Dulles, Las Vegas and LAX. With only five aircraft, it lacked economies of scale and, when oil prices hit the roof, it filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in December 2007.

Then there was Eos Airlines, founded in 2004 and ceasing operations in April 2008 – yet another victim of spiralling oil prices.  It had six aircraft fitted with just 48 business seats that turned into fully flat beds and operated between JFK and London Stansted.

Finally there was Silverjet, founded in 2006 and ceasing operations in June 2008. It operated twice-daily flights between the UK’s Luton Airport and Newark in the US and was the only airline to offer a private terminal at Luton and private check-in area at Newark.

Many in the industry thought business class-only services were finished. British Airways then came along and bought the French airline L’Avion in July 2008, merged it with Open Skies and now operates flights between Paris’s Orly Airport and Newark and Washington DC. It offers two types of business cabin and seat: ‘Biz Seats’ that recline to 140 degrees and ‘Biz Bed’ seats that convert into fully flat beds.

Believing it had a captive audience in the City and Docklands, with ads saying ‘fly from the heart of London to New York’, British Airways then launched its own business  class-only flights from City Airport last autumn. The tiny airport is a delight to use. I arrived the customary two hours before departure, to find that I was checked in at the kerb within a matter of minutes. Security is a breeze and BA offers passengers a very comfortable gate lounge, which opens an hour before departure – so an hour would have given me ample time.

BA operates a twice-daily flight with two Airbus 318s built for the route. There are just 32 business seats that convert in to fully flat beds. The layout is different from the conventional Club World, with the seats facing forward in a two-by-two format.

For the more technical, the 318 has massive engines with steep ascent and descent capability. They have the standard engines Airbus put on the larger A319 and A320 but with restricted power. This is needed for that very short runway at London’s City Airport and for the steep ascent to clear the buildings!  I never flew on Concorde, but the acceleration of these little planes is phenomenal. And BA has given them the old Concorde flight numbers, so that’s close enough!

Refueling in Ireland

An hour after take-off, we touch down at Shannon Airport and leave the plane while they refuel it to get us over The Pond. We clear US immigration quickly and efficiently and have our hand baggage scanned again by incredibly friendly staff. Thirty minutes later we are back on board and take off with no delays towards New York.

We get there an hour ahead of schedule, but in true JFK fashion are told to hold. Then, once we do touch down, we have to wait in a line of planes waiting to take off before we can get to our stand! So, in the end, we arrived dead on schedule.

The best part of the flight is disembarking and walking straight through the departure lounge and heading for the baggage claim area as a domestic flight! I was out of the plane and reunited with my bags in just ten minutes!

The flight back to London is direct and allows you to take full advantage of excellent lounge facilities at JFK. Landing at City means that you are through with your bags in about ten minutes.

An excellent experience where you are treated a little bit specially. I hope this service survives, as I will certainly use it again.

In my next DMI News Extra column I am going to be staying in New York and talking about the ‘High Line’.

You can email Simon here: simon@omotg.com