British Airways' plan to launch new routes to New York from Europe next year - the so called 'Project Lauren' - may be hit by the US Federal Aviation Authority's concerns over 'chronic congestion' at JFK airport, the Times reports. BA has its own terminal at JFK and is the airport's biggest overseas airline.
The newspaper, picking up on reports in the US about delays and congestion at the airport, says that the FAA is about to start talks with airlines using the hub, including BA, to reduce flights. In order to reduce congestion at the New York airport, it wants airlines to voluntarily reduce take-offs and landings at JFK, or move flights to less busy times.
BA already has plans to increase the number of flights from Heathrow to JFK next year to 55 from 51. It is also planning new routes to the US from Europe next year to take advantage of the open skies agreement which comes into effect next March. Press reports suggest that it will use two Boeing 757 planes to launch all premium services from two European cities.
A spokesman for BA said the company has not yet specified where the new Europe-US services will fly to but admitted there would be an impact if restrictions at JFK were enforced, the Times reports. However, as the airline is likely to start the services with just one rotation a day, it would only be looking for an extra two takeoff and landings. Or, BA could route the new flights to New York's Newark airport.
Plans to launch the new airline will be discussed at the BA board meeting tomorrow, ahead of discuss the group's interim results published on Friday. However, the airline has already started recruiting pilots for the scheme, and is looking for an advertising agency, so the go-ahead for the plan looks assured. |
