Accra Kotoka Airport

British Airways plans two phases to bring bmi, and its London Heathrow slots, to profitability

International Airlines Group (IAG) is targeting winter 2012/13 as its first opportunity to fully incorporate the 42 daily London Heathrow slots it will acquire as part of its purchase of bmi from Lufthansa, now approved by regulators with only minor concessions. The initial integration will look to bring the predominantly short-haul bmi operation to breakeven by increasing seat capacity on each slot pair, making network changes and leveraging IAG's marketing and distribution power on the inherited bmi network. The medium-term integration will see the short-haul bmi slots allocated for services on IAG carrier British Airways' (BA) long-haul operation, which is smaller than its major European rivals. BA will target emerging markets including Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This new and large increase in Heathrow capacity will require significant fleet adjustments, and already BA plans to delay retirement of Boeing 747 aircraft as well as to re-examine its purchase options, which it holds on 787 and Airbus A380 aircraft. It will also seek clarity from Boeing on its 777 successor programme.

United continues international network shifts and drops service to Accra in Ghana

United is moving international capacity around its largest hubs in what appears to be an effort to maximise its network now that a crucial passenger service system cutover is complete. The IT system cutover allows United and Continental, whose merger is now complete, to fully utilise the combined networks and properly cross-fleet to operate optimal-sized aircraft in United’s markets. One of the more prominent changes is the elimination of flights from United’s Washington Dulles hub to Accra, which was the carrier’s first point in Africa when the route was launched in 2010. Other changes include the seasonal elimination of flights from Washington to Moscow and from Newark to Rome.

The changes will support an overall revised capacity forecast for United this year. The carrier has refined its 2012 capacity guidance from an overall decrease of 0.5% to 1.5%, compared with a previous estimate of between growth of 0.5% and a drop of 0.5%. United’s international capacity is now projected to grow this year by 0.3% to 1.3%, but some of that will be driven by new long-haul flights from Washington Dulles to Doha beginning in May, followed by Dulles to Manchester and Dublin.

Iberia increases African presence with services to Accra and Nouakchott

Iberia’s planned service to Accra and Nouakchott will give Spain its first routes to the West African nations of Ghana and Mauritania. The services, to be operated with A319 and A321 equipment, respectively, will provide links for business travellers into the economic centres of each country. Iberia’s presence in Africa is strongest in the north and west, so the new services continue that strategy as the African market grows.

Nigeria and Ghana driving West African aviation development

West Africa’s aviation industry is being led forward by Nigeria and Ghana. In Nigeria, the largest carrier, Arik Air, recently revealed itself as Boeing’s un-named B747-8 customer, while national carrier Air Nigeria is in the process of re-establishing its long-haul network. While the airlines are not without their problems, the market is growing and new entrants are appearing. In Ghana, the country is opening up to international carriers who are eager to increase their frequencies to the gold-producing country. Ghana itself is the site of one of Africa’s newest carrier, Starbow Airlines, and an impending base for pan-African LCC, Fly540.

Airbus predicted cities in these two countries, Accra and Lagos, will become “airline megacities” in the next 20 years, meaning they will handle 10,000 or more long-haul passengers a day. Accra and Lagos are two of just six** African cities tipped to become an “airline megacity”.

Virgin Atlantic confident of prospects despite big FY2009/10 loss

Having made a substantial profit of GBP60 million in 2008/09, one that put rival British Airways firmly in the shade, Virgin Atlantic had to report a loss of GBP132 million in 2009/10 – a loss equivalent to BA's, allowing for their comparative size. For the 12 months ended Feb-2010, Virgin reported an operating loss of GBP132 million, compared with a profit of GBP60 million the previous year as revenues fell by 8.6% to GBP2,537 million. This, despite airline operating costs reducing by 8%. The results were not directly influenced by cabin crew strikes at BA, which commenced in Apr-2010 but they could have been influenced indirectly, for example by passengers switching bookings in anticipation of a strike. If that was the case, the result is worse than it first appears.