Dear Sir,

The furore raised last week over the extra long flight times of the British Airways flights to and from Bermuda was out of all proportion to reality.

What was the problem? For some years now BA’s resources have been severely overstretched in their all-out desire for maximum profit.

They simply don’t have enough aircraft to adequately service their extended routes.

Last Monday, a technical problem arose with a particular aircraft (not a safety problem), and the airline did not have another plane with which to replace the defective one. This meant that on its journey to and from Bermuda, the plane had to remain within 60 minutes flying time of a diversionary airport, which effectively extended flights in both directions by some two hours.

Unwisely the powers that be within BA sent that same particular aircraft to Bermuda on three consecutive days.

As a consequence, one or two people (obviously not frequent flyers) began calling for BA to be ousted (which would have been catastrophic for business on the Island), to get other airlines to fly here, and to eliminate BA’s monopoly.

As in any business, airlines exist and operate to make money. Bermuda is not a particularly lucrative destination. You only have to look at the history of the American carriers serving the Island and how often they set up business here, pull out, increase frequency and just as quickly cut back in the winter or at the slightest sign of weakness in the market (a drop in customers).

The term monopoly can be taken to mean exclusive control of a given market.

There is nothing, however, to stop another airline from applying to fly between Britain or Europe and Bermuda.

Why, though, would another carrier entertain such an idea, when there is no guarantee of making a profit?

If Bermuda did kick out BA, as some would have it, we would only end up by replacing it with another airline, and of what quality? I seem to recall that in the 1970s there were two airlines flying between Bermuda and London, BA and Qantas. More recently we had the short-lived services of Zoom Airlines on the Gatwick/Bermuda route. So much for a monopoly!

Incidentally (for those with short memories) all Zoom flights to and from Bermuda were non-ETOPS, meaning that every single flight to the UK and back took ten hours.

Bermuda is still in financial difficulties and people should be very careful about what they wish for; they also need to get their facts straight before complaining. BA for its part should remember its motto, ‘To fly. To serve’, and cut back on its overstretched routes.

That way it would have sufficient replacement aircraft available when others become technically defective.

The airline would become much more dependable, and that in turn would attract more customers.

Regular Flyer