BA A318 SNN to JFK!

Darwin

Just saw a BA A318-112 on flightradar24 originating from London City bound for JFK (with a stop in SNN). It surprised me such a small aircraft has the range, but a look around the web suggests this is a special corporate version which has a range of up to 4000 miles. All the same wouldn't fancy a bumpy Atlantic crossing in this.

Davidth88

BA001 ... Std flight from London City.

all business class , I think about 40 seats.

I would love to try it .

roundymac

Just priced it for the laugh, £5,090.55 rtn.:D

Ilyushin76

Nice video of the trip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOo2tSkbwEQ

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

Davidth88

roundymac wrote: »

Just priced it for the laugh, £5,090.55 rtn.:D

Small change :-)

The idea was to replace Concorde , it passes through US Customs/Border in SNN . 15 min check in in LCY

The Speedbird 001 call sign was a Concorde flight.

I am sure if you check carefully and choose your dates you will get it cheaper .

That , and 1st class suite on A380 ( Singapore ) is on my bucket list , now where is my lottery tickt

Talking oddidtes , there is a A340 business only SQ flight from Singapore to Newark direct , 15 hrs I think .

Chuck Stone

Does it stop in Shannon for fuel or the US check in? (or both?)

A320

Stops for both,The Aircraft can't operate out of London City With Full Tanks.
34 seats

Lustrum

Here's a link to an article about it with a few pics

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pictures-ba-completes-first-transatlantic-a318-flight-332892/

There was a thread about it a few months back, as far as I know speedbird 1 is the westbound flight with speedbird 2 doing the return leg direct to London City.

Some good info and shots in the thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056339158

Turbine

It was featured on CNN Business Traveller a couple of years ago too:

Part 1: http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/international/2009/10/14/biz.trav.business.ba001.quest.bk.a.cnn
Part 2: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2009/10/14/biz.trav.immigration.ireland.bk.b.cnn

cson

That interior doesn't scream luxury to me. Seems kinda cold or something. Would have expected BA to make it more private jet-y for want of a better description.

This Cathay Pacific version would be my choice of cabin layout I think [space considerations aside!]

Plowman

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cuterob

if you're window side and the person is next to you asleep lying down do you have to climb over them to go to the toilet? a bit cramped for £5k seat

Tenger

cuterob wrote: »

if you're window side and the person is next to you asleep lying down do you have to climb over them to go to the toilet? a bit cramped for £5k seat

This operation is aimed solely at the 'time is money' high end business person. They skip all the delays usually associated with travelling via a hub to NYC. 15 minutes after touch down at JFK they are in their car/limo into Manhattan.
Comfort is a secondary consideration when you are working on multi-billion pound/dollar deals

LeftBlank

cuterob wrote: »

if you're window side and the person is next to you asleep lying down do you have to climb over them to go to the toilet? a bit cramped for £5k seat

Concorde wasn't exactly spacious either.

Tea 1000

LeftBlank wrote: »

Concorde wasn't exactly spacious either.

No, but you got there in less than half the time!

Melion

There were 2 pax on board this flight yesterday, recession indeed

roundymac

Melion wrote: »

There were 2 pax on board this flight yesterday, recession indeed

Had heard the outbound flights had light loads, but generally fairly full on the return direct to LCY. There used to be a second daily flight, the BA3 & 4, don't know if that is still running.
@DAVIDth88 yes I read somewhere that you can get cheaper flights, about £1900 rtn, outbound on a friday back on sunday night I think, am open to correction. Even that price is still too dear for me in the present climate.

radar0976

roundymac wrote: »

Had heard the outbound flights had light loads, but generally fairly full on the return direct to LCY. There used to be a second daily flight, the BA3 & 4, don't know if that is still running.
@DAVIDth88 yes I read somewhere that you can get cheaper flights, about £1900 rtn, outbound on a friday back on sunday night I think, am open to correction. Even that price is still too dear for me in the present climate.

BA3 & 4 does still operate alright. Hear it most days on Shanwick Radio.

globemaster1986

Tenger wrote: »

This operation is aimed solely at the 'time is money' high end business person. They skip all the delays usually associated with travelling via a hub to NYC. 15 minutes after touch down at JFK they are in their car/limo into Manhattan.
Comfort is a secondary consideration when you are working on multi-billion pound/dollar deals

Anyone working on multi-billion dollar deals would not be travelling BA! More likely a G550!:D

Marcusm

cson wrote: »

That interior doesn't scream luxury to me. Seems kinda cold or something. Would have expected BA to make it more private jet-y for want of a better description.

This Cathay Pacific version would be my choice of cabin layout I think [space considerations aside!]

CX began rolling out that layout in 2008 or so and have already abandoned it. Unfortunately was regarded as coffin like by many. A similar layout is used by Virgin (Upper Class) and NZ. I very much preferred the CX version (have flown it maybe 10 times). Generally great privacy, huge TV screen and the inflight power will take normal plugs from just about everywhere in the world.

No good if you're flying in a family and want to chat, however.

LXFlyer

BA001 operates Monday/Friday only and BA003 operates Sunday/Friday only.

The return flights (non-stop to LCY) operate as follows:
BA002 operates Sunday/Friday and BA004 operates Sunday/Thursday.