American Airlines and British Airways have finally managed to optimize their schedules in the New York JFK – London Heathrow sector. It is the most lucrative transatlantic air travel market. Thanks to the joint venture between AA, BA and Iberia, the service dubbed as London Express, ups the ante against other major players in the market: Delta Air Lines (from JFK), Virgin Atlantic (from JFK and EWR) and Continental (EWR), part of the new United.
AA, BA and Iberia - Part of Oneworld - Courtesy: Oneworld
New York – London air travel market is one of the most competitive in the world. The Oneworld alliance is already the most dominant player in the market. With this schedule alignment, it is trying to protect its market share against increased competition from Delta and the new United. From March 27, AA/BA will have near hourly departure from New York JFK in the evening. With BA’s multiple departures from Newark to Heathrow and from JFK to London City, Oneworld covers the entire geography of London and New York. Continental recently announced increasing its services from EWR to LHR.
Competition is heating up on many US – London routes. Oneworld has optimized its schedules on Chicago – London, Miami – London and Boston – London routes. This comes around the same time Delta announced its Miami – London and Boston – London services (ironically from the slots it got from Oneworld as a part of the Anti Trust Immunity approval from US DOT/EU competition commission).
It would be interesting to see how the landscape unfolds! Let’s wait and see!