CNN Details Coveted New York To London Route

CNN Business Traveller did a pretty interesting dissection of how the world’s biggest airlines compete with each other to maintain the market share of the highly prized New York to London route.

British Airways and American Airlines take up the brunt of this business by taking 53% of the flights between this route.  That means, between the two airlines, they have 17 flights a day between New York and London.  That’s a pretty big share of such an important market.

Also, from London City, British Airways has a flight that is all business class, a pretty interesting way to travel.  The best part of this exclusive flight is that you land in Shannon, Ireland and pre-clear customs, that way as soon as your touch down in JFK you enter directly into the domestic terminal, avoiding the great crowds that usually form there.

Delta and Virgin have 33% of the market, something that was only able to happen because of the Delta-Virgin deal that brought them together, where Delta purchased 49% of the the British company.  This was a deal for Delta because it gave it the opportunity to offer three times as many daily flights, whereas Virgin then had the ability to reach into markets it wasn’t traditionally strongin  within the U.S.

The losing end of the spectrum is United Airlines, who only has five flights a day on the route.  United does have what some may call a minimal advantage because it flies into Newark rather than JFK, which means less lines.  They are also trying to win over consumers by setting up a nice area in Heathrow’s renovated Terminal 2.

Anyways, this was a pretty interesting special and I look forward to the other part of the video being released on CNN.  Which one of these New York to London routes have any of you personally taken?  Has anybody taken the BA flight from London City to JFK?  Here is the first part of the video here: