Continental Airlines last week took advantage of its new Star Alliance membership by announcing it will add one daily departure to its London Heathrow-Newark Liberty International Airport service next month and a second in October. The additions mean Continental as of Oct. 31 will fly five times daily from Heathrow to the New York area, the same as Virgin Atlantic, which has three departures to John F. Kennedy International Airport and two to Newark, and American Airlines, which has all five to Kennedy. Only British Airways, operating six flights to Kennedy and three to Newark, has more frequencies.
Continental entered Heathrow following implementation of the Open Skies agreement between the European Union and the United States in March 2008 with a twice-daily Heathrow-Newark service. It added a third in October 2008 and, following its admission into the Star Alliance in October 2009, it obtained slots from a fellow Star carrier to add two more. An evening departure from Heathrow will launch on March 28, with a morning departure starting on Oct. 31.
Bob Schumacher, Continental's general manager for the U.K. and Ireland, said his airline's increased presence on the world's busiest long-haul route is of mutual benefit to both Continental and Star Alliance. Until Continental became a partner, Star had not served the route since United Airlines withdrew in October 2006. This adds to Star's presence as a major player at Heathrow, where Lufthansa-owned Bmi British Midland owns 11 percent of airport slots.
Although Bmi seems the most likely candidate, Schumacher would not confirm which Star partner provided the slots, or how much money, if any, changed hands. However, he did say, "The simple fact that we are now in an alliance which enjoys significant historic Heathrow penetration makes the job easier when it comes to slot purchase, lease or swap. We were very much welcomed into Star because we filled this void.
"In Star, we have joined an alliance that has a Heathrow presence, whereas when we were in SkyTeam, we, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines were all fighting for the same slots to get our names on the departure board."
Schumacher added that Continental needed to add departures at the beginning and end of the day to take on its rivals in attracting business travelers. He now is looking to swap one of the airline's late morning slots for an early afternoon slot to improve the spread further.
The half-dozen carriers that launched Heathrow-U.S. services with the advent of Open Skies have enjoyed variable results, with some subsequently reducing frequencies or pulling off routes altogether. Schumacher attributed the expansion of Continental's service to the strength of its hub at Newark, serving 130 destinations. Some of his competitors, he said, made "irrational route choices" regarding Heathrow.
Continental also announced last week that all its aircraft serving Heathrow, including twice daily to Houston service, will feature lie-flat beds in their BusinessFirst cabins starting in June. The lie-flat beds also will appear in autumn 2010 on Boeing 757s serving Newark from Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester.
Schumacher said there are early signs of a return to the front cabin by corporate travelers, especially by bankers and those involved in merger and acquisitions activity. "It's a swallow, but not yet a summer," he said.