British Airways Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, has confirmed rumours of a visit to the Russian Federation to place orders for 2 of the country’s Ekranoplans.

Wash has explained that, with the further delays of the A380 to the BA fleet announced on May 13th, there is a necessity to speed up the upgrade of his fleet.

Walsh, who met with Minister of Defence Marshal Sokolov on Monday, explained that “The Ekranoplan will provide a fuel efficient and extremely fast method of transporting our passengers across long stretches of sea...it will replace all London-New York services from July 1st...we have clearance from both the British and United States port authorities to dock at Canary Wharf and on the Hudson”

Our survey has produced a vary of results; a Citigroup investment banker said the plan would cut his journey times and make his travelling that much more convenient seeming as the plan is to dock the plane next to Citigroup Centre in the Docklands. However, others cited that the decision is “disastrous” and will surely cause the demise of BA, especially after the lackluster performance over the Terminal 5 fiasco.

Ekranoplans were originally developed by the Soviet Union as very high-speed military transports, and were based mostly on the shores of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The largest could transport over 100 t (98 LT) of cargo. About 120 ekranoplans (A-90 Orlyonok class) were initially planned to enter military service in the Soviet Navy. The figure was later reduced to fewer than thirty vehicles, planned to be deployed mainly for the Black and the Baltic Soviet navies. However, the new Minister of Defence Marshal Sokolov has effectively stopped the funding for the program.

Virgin, American Airlines and United Airlines have refused to comment on their plans to introduce the planes, although Richard Branson was spotted shirking around the Ministry of Transportation in Moscow last month.