MAX KINGSLEY-JONES / BIRMINGHAM
British Airways has partly completed the reorganisation of its UK operations, involving the merger of regional divisions under the CitiExpress brand and the reallocation of aircraft between Birmingham, London Gatwick and Manchester.
The move, which is key to the airline's Future Size and Shape review, is due to be completed by the start of its 2003 summer schedules at the end of March. Recently acquired British Regional Airlines (BRAL) has been merged with its wholly owned Brymon Airways arm, which forms the basis of the CitiExpress operation.
The other element of the reorganisation is restructuring the BA Regional (BAR) operations at Birmingham and Manchester. These are being brought into the CitiExpress grouping, while ex-BAR Airbus A319s and Boeing 737s are being redeployed to the London airports with BA mainline and replaced by smaller, 110-seat, ex-CityFlyer Express BAE Systems Avro RJ100s which are transferring to the UK regions.
BA general manager UK business David Evans says the reorganisation is about one-third of the way through. "In September, the [former BRAL] Manx brand was eliminated, with its flight code and aircraft coming fully into the BA fold. Six ex-CityFlyer RJ100s have been transferred from Gatwick…from April the CitiExpress fleet will total 84 aircraft."
Evans says the restructured fleet will comprise 13 BAe ATPs, 12 BAe Jetstream 41s, five BAe 146s, 16 RJ100s, 10 Bombardier Dash 8s, and 28 Embraer ERJ-145s. "After the reorganisation, our capacity at Birmingham will be about 9% lower, and Manchester will be about the same as before."
The redeployment of fleets between the three UK airports has enabled some ex-CityFlyer RJ100 pilots to switch to the mainline operation if they want to remain at Gatwick, says Evans. Similarly, ex-BAR pilots have had the option to move on to the CitiExpress fleet if they want to remain at their current bases.
Additional RJ100 pilots are being sourced from the CitiExpress turboprop and ERJ fleets where necessary.
Source: Flight International
