British Airways plans to operate 200 flights a day more from spring 2023 than it does now, but delays in the delivery of new long-haul aircraft will hamper restoration of its full long-haul network.
BA head of integrated operations control Richard Treeves told the recent Institute of Travel Management Trending Summit in London: “We plan to operate about 200 flights a day more next year than we are now and that is quite a challenge.”
Treeves said BA’s priority in the summer was ensuring it operated its schedule as published but: “Now it’s about making the airport experience less stressful.”
He added that BA had taken on about 5,000 cabin crew and ground-handling staff this year to ensure it could turn aircraft around.
Rhett Workman, managing director of American Airlines at Heathrow, told the summit that delays in the delivery of new aircraft were stopping the airline from adding more long-haul flights.
“We and BA suffered this year because of a lack of new long-haul aircraft. That is constraining the planning of networks,” he said.
Having retired older aircraft during Covid, it now has 100 aircraft on order, he added.
“[But] Boeing and Airbus have hundreds of companies supplying them and everyone has the same challenges [labour shortages].”