V-Flyer

VS 25/26 to JFK will resume once more on 28th October, leaving LHR at 19:00, arriving into JFK at 22:00 local time and leaving JFK at 08:00 arriving into LHR at 20:00 ^)

Excellent news on the outbound... since my employer stopped us from using Newark flights (clearly only getting a good deal on JFK), the latest I could go was at 5.15pm on the 9... this buys me back nearly 2 hours of my Sundays, and hopefully a few brownie points at home!

Thank you VB, that is excellent news. I knew it when the JFK clubhouse expansion was announced that extra flights were due, this is fantastic, and goes some way to resolving the seat cull!

Interesting news.

Wonder where the LHR slot and aircraft came from to be able to operate this route?

clarkeysntfc wrote:Interesting news.

Wonder where the LHR slot and aircraft came from to be able to operate this route?

Well given that it starts on October 28th I would imagine it's from the Vancouver flight and possibly the second SFO flight or the Chicago flight.

honey lamb wrote:

clarkeysntfc wrote:Interesting news.

Wonder where the LHR slot and aircraft came from to be able to operate this route?

Well given that it starts on October 28th I would imagine it's from the Vancouver flight and possibly the second SFO flight or the Chicago flight.

So it's not actual growth or expansion then? n(

Well it is growth as means an additional permanent route as with BOM also starting and cancun. Chicago and Vancouver are seasonal for the summer. Another 4 330s arriving this year will provide the extra capacity

virginboy747 wrote:Well it is growth as means an additional permanent route as with BOM also starting and cancun. Chicago and Vancouver are seasonal for the summer. Another 4 330s arriving this year will provide the extra capacity

I don't understand how stopping 2 routes at the end of the summer schedule and adding 2 at the start of winter, consititues growth?

Plus 4 smaller aircraft joining = capacity cut.

I might be wrong but I don't think Cancun is growth for LGW because they dropped one of the Jamaica routes to enable it.

virginboy747 wrote:Well it is growth as means an additional permanent route as with BOM also starting and cancun. Chicago and Vancouver are seasonal for the summer. Another 4 330s arriving this year will provide the extra capacity

And they lose the second sfo as well as 4 of the a346 go this year - do they have enough aircraft??

virginboy747 wrote:Well it is growth as means an additional permanent route as with BOM also starting and cancun. Chicago and Vancouver are seasonal for the summer. Another 4 330s arriving this year will provide the extra capacity

I am so looking forward to the Cancun inaugural VB - will you be on it?

No slinky I'm not part of the in crowd lol

I think ORD and the 2nd SFO are permanent fixtures now.

JCBR wrote:I think ORD and the 2nd SFO are permanent fixtures now.

Chicago isn't. I tried a dummy booking for November and got this message

We only fly between London Heathrow and Chicago during the UK Summer period.
7th MAY 2012 – 14th OCTOBER 2012

In addition with regard to the VS 41/42 the VS website states

Our new service will being on 26th March 2012 and will run throughout the summer, until 26th October 2012.

A dummy booking for a day on which the second SFO flight is scheduled to fly during the summer months shows only the VS19

JCBR wrote:I think ORD and the 2nd SFO are permanent fixtures now.

There were some stories that this might come to pass, but as HL says, the current plan is otherwise.

While you can argue that Cancun is just a replacement service, Vancouver is growth, as is Mumbai, as is additional Accra services, an additional San Francisco, and now a New York (although you could argue that was a reinstatement).

That's an awful lot of growth for one year, but clearly not quite enough for some people.

barg wrote:While you can argue that Cancun is just a replacement service, Vancouver is growth, as is Mumbai, as is additional Accra services, an additional San Francisco, and now a New York (although you could argue that was a reinstatement).

That's an awful lot of growth for one year, but clearly not quite enough for some people.

If New York is seasonal to replace the YVR and SFO then that's not necessarily additional growth. If it is seasonal though, I am surprised, winter is not necessarily the height of the travel season ?| .

VS 25 isn't seasonal it's back year round

barg wrote:While you can argue that Cancun is just a replacement service, Vancouver is growth, as is Mumbai, as is additional Accra services, an additional San Francisco, and now a New York (although you could argue that was a reinstatement).

That's an awful lot of growth for one year, but clearly not quite enough for some people.

Au contraire

Mumbai can't really be called a new route. Even the VS blurb (on the 'latest news' in the website) states

After a few years break we will be returning to Mumbai with a new daily flight ...

Cancun on the otherhand is a NEW route and not a reinstatement
as per this

tontybear wrote:Au contraire

Well, since the post was about growth I think the post was right, Mumbai may have operated before, but at this time it is a new permanent route and that means growth. As you are right to point out also is Cancun (bit of personal interest there, look out for more on this ), and additional Accra services. The VS25/6 is also growth because that's a permanent route whereas the second SFO and the part time YVR are seasonal - would the slots for these become the winter seasonal Cape Town instead, or would they come from ORD, but then that makes two seasonal slot pairs and only one needed for CPT so I guess something else ...

So we have two new permanent additions to the schedule, BOM and JFK (25/6) this year, plus part time Cancun, and then however the seasonal routes map out or interchange.

I wondered whether increased frequency might be the plan with the smaller A330s. Makes a lot of sense, it gives people more choice of flight time whilst keeping up the number of seats on a daily basis (Ithink!).

Makes a deal of sense to me...

slinky09 wrote:
So we have two new permanent additions to the schedule, BOM and JFK (25/6) this year, plus part time Cancun, and then however the seasonal routes map out or interchange.

Cancun is permanent, year-round too.

Fantastic news about the VS25/26 coming back, another option to fly back during the day from NYC y)

VS are on a roll - goood news and welcome

Jon

I welcome this news too. Does anyone know when the flights will be available for booking? I need to be in NYC in early November and would be interested in trying the day flight back.

I see that the VS25/26 is now bookable....and it will be operated by a A333....Excellent news.

But it does mean in the Winter schedule that the VS3/4 goes back to an A343!

Jon

horburyflyer wrote:But it does mean in the Winter schedule that the VS3/4 goes back to an A343!

:0 I hope that this changes. Putting the least impressive equipment on a premium business route seems odd to me.