A Steep Approach: An In-depth Look at British Airways A318 New York Service

Many airlines have tried all business class flights, can one be finally successful ?

British Airways will be launching its London City – New York JFK all business class flights on 29th September of this year, this article is an in-depth look on how this operation is prepared.

British Airways will use its brand new Airbus A318 for this flight. The aircraft, specially configured for steep approaches, was delivered to BA on 28th August. BA plans to begin services on 29th September.

The Flight
BA revived its Concorde flight numbers BA 001 – 004 for this operation, which is a signification of how important this flight is for the airline.

London City – New York JFK

BA001 1230 – 1715
BA003 1600 – 2045

The eastbound sector involves a fuel stop at Shannon, Ireland and takes 9h 45 mins. The stop at Shannon is not solely intended for range reasons, which will be covered to the end of this article.

New York JFK – London City

BA002 1840 – 0715+1
BA004 2210 – 1045+1

The westbound leg is operated nonstop to LCY. The flight takes 7h 35mins.

The Aircraft

BA will be using two A318 Elite aircraft, fully configured for Business Class .

Key Technical Details of the A318:

Airbus A318 is the smallest member of the Airbus A320 family and A318 Elite is the corporate model ( business jet ) of the aircraft type. By ordering the A318, BA became the second airline in the world to operate the complete Airbus A320 family, the other airline being Air France.

Steep Approach

Airbus A318 was certified for Steep Approaches in 2007. The trials were conducted at London City airport. But what really is called Steep Approach ?

The Steep Approach, in simple words, is a special method of landing. This enables the certified aircraft to land into the runway in a steeper slope than usual.
This makes the Steep Approach certified aircraft ideal for operation into mountainous or urban airports where a regular approach to the airport might not be possible.

The A318 is the largest commercial aircraft certified with Steep Approach capabilities. It is certified for a 5.5° approach slope, although it is believed to be able to achieve a 7.5° slope safely. The regular slope for a standard approach is 3°.

BA’s A318
BA took delivery of its first A318 Elite on 28th August, which arrived to London Gatwick airport ahead of final testing before put into commercial service.
The aircraft is the 4007th Airbus A320 family aircraft built and carries the British registration, G-EUNA.
The aircraft is fitted with 32 Business Class seats and also includes OnAir mobile connectivity system which will allow passengers to send and receive emails and text messages, which was tested during the delivery flight from Hambur Finkenwerder plant to London Gatwick. BA A318s are powered by CFM 56-5B engines.

Photo © David Kaminski-Morrow FlightGlobal

The A318 is fitted with an ‘Steep Approach Switch’ in the overhead panel of the cockpit. According to Flight Global, this slot is usually reserved for ‘N1′ mode thrust-control switch on IAE V2500 powered A320s, but is free on the A318 because V2500 is not available for this type.

The A318 Elite is already certified for 180min ETOPS operations, but BA plans to add a fuselage auxiliary fuel tank, which will enable the aircraft to carry 3t of extra fuel. However, this will not be available at the launch of operations.

BA expects to receive its second A318 by October.

The Operation

BA selected London City airport as the origin for this flights as they consider it is the most easily accessible airport for businessmen in London and as the airport with easiest access to London’s business centres .
Once both aircraft are in operation, BA will be operating 11 weekly flights between the two cities in both directions.
BA’s existing A320 crews can already fly the A318, thanks to Airbus’s common narrowbody type rating. However for the inaugural flights, BA will also be carrying an ETOPS experienced pilot for better safety.

Shannon Stop
BA’s A318 flights will originate from London City, but the same will not apply to BA’s crew who will be originating from London Heathrow. BA considered establishing a reporting station at LCY, but later gave up on the idea taking into consideration the complexity it will involve. Because the LHR-LCY transfer is considered as a sector too, BA’s crew will already have almost spent their duty time before they reach JFK. This will leave no room for the event of a diversion. Hence the aircraft will be making a technical stop at Shannon not only to refuel but also to take in a new crew who will then fly the aircraft to New York.
However, in the return leg a single crew will be operating the flight.

The Economical Perspective
All Business Class flights are nothing new, specially in the London – New York sector. Eos, MAXjet and SilverJet, all tried it, but none could succeed.
However, in all of the earlier cases, the aircraft used was essentially a widebody ( given that the Boeing 757 has a capacity of over 200 seats although the aircraft is single-aisle ) that needed more Business Class seats to be filled in order to make a profit.
The A318 is an aircraft with very good economics and filling 32 seats will also not be a much hard task. The flight is expected to cater more for the O&D traffic.
Someone might question whether a business person will go to LCY to take a flight that stops at Shannon. The answer is that, the passengers will be offered US Customs and Immigration clearance at Shannon while the aircraft is being refueled, which will make things much quicker for the passengers at JFK and will make this flight an excellent choice for business travellers.
However the economic feasibility and long term continuation of an all business class operation still remains to be seen. BA certainly is not in a good financial position and they will need to make this flight a successful one if they are to turn things better. Time will tell us, if they could. But one thing for sure, it will involve a lot of hard work .

It indeed is an steep approach.

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