London City-JFK service marks new technology drive for British Airways

airbus A318 BA interiorBritish Airways will be hoping some of the features included in its new premium service from London City Airport to New York will deflect attention away from the negative press it has received in recent days.

 Much has been said about the unfortunate stopover for fuel in Shannon, Ireland, and the cost of a ticket coming in at around £4,000.

Couple these with noise from the environmental lobby, which has taken the airline to task for launching a business class-only, transatlantic product with aircraft (Airbus A318) that have just 32 seats.

So BA is trying its hardest to push the on-board facilities as it looks to attract business travellers to a capital-to-capital route already well served by itself and other players.

Tech-heads and can’t-stop-working business travellers who find themselves at London City Airport or New York’s JFK are being promised full connectivity for passengers on the flight, including web access, email and text messaging services.

Where BA is less forthcoming is with the inevitable news that the in-flight digital suite will still cost passengers extra.

BA says that although there are no plans to roll-out the services on the other routes, OnAir facilities will be available on all new aircraft as and when they enter the fleet.

UPDATE: Business Traveller magazine tweeted an intriguing snippet of information – 379 messages sent by passengers on the first LCY-JFK flight.

Do the math, as they say.

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Kevin May About Kevin May

Kevin May is editor of Tnooz. He joined as a co-founder in August 2009 after spending nearly four years as editor of UK-based business publication Travolution.

Passionate about the business of travel and the internet, Kevin played a major role in establishing Travolution in print, online, events and with an annual awards programme, as well as becoming a regular speaker and moderator at industry events.

Prior to Travolution, Kevin was web editor at Media Week (UK) and also worked in regional newspapers for two years at the Essex Enquirer. He started his career in journalism at the Police Gazette at New Scotland Yard in London.

Trackbacks

  1. [...] the route launched in 2009, BA made much of the technological prowess of the aircraft being used, an Airbus 318, which was retrofitted to include in-air web connection, email and SMS [...]

  2. [...] British Airways is basking in the relative calm waters of reconvened talks with trade unions by launching upgraded in-flight web services on its business class-only route from London to New York. [...]

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