BA hopes it’s third time lucky for low-cost plan

When British Airways moved its short-haul flights from Gatwick to Heathrow last year to survive the pandemic downturn, some wondered if the UK’s flag carrier would ever return in full force.  The UK’s second airport, home base of low-cost rival easyJet, had always been a tougher challenge than Heathrow, its main hub of operations and the link to its once lucrative transatlantic routes. “It was always seen as a difficult business because of [BA’s] cost structure,” said Chris Tarry, aviation consultant at Ctaira consultancy.  Over the past decade, easyJet’s share of flights from Gatwick increased by 25%, while BA’s declined by a third, according to Tarry. Now BA is aiming to return to short-haul flying from Gatwick and, according to two people close to the subject, has been in negotiations with unions for several months over more flexible terms and conditions to support a new, lower cost airline operating from the airport. However, lower cost does not mean low cost. People with knowledge of the situation said that the group was looking at setting up services “in line with BA brand guidelines”. This suggested that the airline would not try to replicate the offers and models operated by Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air, but focus instead on leveraging advantages such as brand, reliability, flight times and loyalty, said analysts. Sean Doyle, BA CE, suggested in late July that the group would have to find a lower cost model if it was to operate a sustainable business out of the airport best known for its leisure traffic. “We’re looking at what are [the] options are for summer ’22 at Gatwick,” he told analysts and investors at the results meeting of parent group IAG late last month. “We need to be competitive because the market will be very competitive coming out at the other end of the pandemic.” Story has more.<br/>