Interesting that the BA cuts above only refer to long-haul. It looks like some cuts are in prospect on short-haul as well. LHR-ABZ-LHR seems to be being reduced from seven to six a day with the late evening roundtrip being chopped and the LHR-ARN-LHR late roundtrip is also blocked from sale in the GDS. Couldn't find any other changes like that but didn't do an exhaustive search through every short-haul route. When were they going to advise people of those changes then?
The JFK and BOS cuts seem to be the late evening flights ex LHR and the daylight return flights into LHR, which were always the worst-performing anyway. The main surprise is that they have survived this long, particularly given that these rotations are very hungry on aircraft and crew time.
Perhaps BA should consider withdrawing the complimentary catering completely on domestic and short haul flights and instead offer a full buy on board product (excluding Club Europe).
IMO BA would have done much better retaining the BA Connect brand, this would have worked well being implemented on the UK domestic and LGW business.
Parky - sounds good but Bacon had the same overspend problems of mainline, i bet it wont be long before the light blue and yellow lot might just step in though???
LHR-ABZ-LHR seems to be being reduced from seven to six a day with the late evening roundtrip being chopped and the LHR-ARN-LHR late roundtrip is also blocked from sale in the GDS.
I was due to go on the last MAN-LHR of the day on October 30th (BA1407) however I got an email today saying it's cancelled and I've been rebooked on the earlier BA1405, a quick look and that flight isn't available all week so I'm guessing thats been chopped too? (The replacement flight isn't any good for me so I'm going on BD595 instead)
LHR-ABZ-LHR seems to be being reduced from seven to six a day with the late evening roundtrip being chopped ...... I was due to go on the last MAN-LHR of the day on October 30th (BA1407) however I got an email today saying it's cancelled
As one who used to do analysis of travel patterns, this can be a shortsighted economy. We found that in many cases (we mainly looked at commuter rail but some long distance stuff as well) the late/last services might not have fully commercial loads. However they were supporting the rest of the service as passengers would use the rest of the service, in the knowledge that if they were delayed or had to work late, it was there to fall back on, and periodically they would do so.
Eliminating the last trip of the day would change this perception and you could lose many more passengers than that last evening service seemed to carry. It was supporting loads on the rest of the service which were not apparent from its actual loadings. If it was taking 50 passengers and you cancelled it, you might expect the service overall to lose 100 passengers.
It is also the case that the last trip of the day takes a high proportion of business day-return traffic, which is some of the highest yielding.
You would expect BA to understand such aspects of transport economics and have people knowledgeable in these areas, but my suspicion is that the office-politics crew at Waterside, those for whom anything that cannot be expressed in one page from a spreadsheet is too difficult, have marginalised and leaned the operation by seeing those who do know one end of a plane from the other as easy targets to get rid of.
British Airways has reported a pre-tax loss of £148m ($245m) in the three months to the end of June. This compares with a profit of £37m in the same period last year. Its operating loss of £94m compares with a profit of £35m last year.
Its losses come in the middle of a tough year for airlines as passengers cut back spending in the recession.
"Trading conditions continue to be very challenging," Willie Walsh, the airline's chief executive said.
"While traffic volumes are down considerably compared to last year, they have stabilised during the quarter and show some signs of improvement for the peak summer months," he added.
Revenues fell 12.2% to £1.983bn in the quarter. We're cutting forecast capital expenditure by 20% this year from £725m to £580m, and it's likely to remain at the same level this year
Passenger revenue fell 12.5% while the worldwide decline for airfreight has also hit its cargo business, where revenues were down 28.1%. Staff cuts
BA has faced possible industrial action over its efforts to cut costs and staffing numbers. The chief executive has previously said that its drive to save cash was part of a "fight for survival". In June, he asked thousands of staff to work for free for up to one month to keep the airline in business.
The airline had cut staff by 1,450 since the end of March through "reduced overtime, increased part time working and targeted voluntary redundancy", he said.
A "permanent structural change" to its employee cost base was "essential to our short-term survival and long term viability", Mr Walsh said.
The airline should meet its cost-cutting targets, he added.
"Our engineers and pilots have voted for permanent change. This is a great step forward. Talks with other union groups continue. We're cutting forecast capital expenditure by 20% this year from £725m to £580m, and it's likely to remain at the same level this year," he added.
Air France posts Q1 loss of euro426 million
PARIS — Air France-KLM on Thursday reported a bigger-than-expected net loss of euro426 million ($598 million) in the three months through June as premium class travel and its cargo business continued to take a battering.
The loss announced by Europe’s biggest airline group in its fiscal first quarter compares with a euro168 million profit a year earlier.
Quote:
Singapore Airlines swung to a net loss of S$307 million ($212 million) during its fiscal first quarter, its first quarterly loss since the SARS crisis in 2003.
The net loss for the three months ended 30 June was in contrast to a S$358.6 million net profit a year before. It recorded an operating loss of S$319 million for the first quarter, against an operating profit of $343 million in 2008
But well done to ..............
Quote:
Germany's leading airline, Lufthansa, reported disappointing results Thursday in response to a global travel slump and pledged to cut costs sharply.
The latest figures made the carrier's full-year target of an operating profit harder to reach but it nonetheless maintained the forecast.
"a net profit of 40 million euros (56 million dollars) in the second quarter of 2009, down 88.1 percent from a year earlier but much better than analyst forecasts for a loss of 18 million euros.
SIA, for example, have shown annual profits for at least the last ten years, on occasion these profits have exceeded one billion dollars.
So, if we add up all the profit over the last ten years and now subtract what is, in effect, a paltry loss the airline is still way, way ahead, yet it still sees fit to introduce a 10% pay cut to all staff.
Given the unbelievable mess that Tamasek Holdings are in, Lumbered with the boss's wife it is possible that the SIA profits have gone to help support the group but if that is the case should they not now be taking a close look at Tamasek and see what has really gone on?
I think what Sweetie76 is alluding to, is that BA are in the business of carrying passengers/cargo on a fleet of a/c that they have bought for that long term use and offload them when they have reached a grand old age. Their business has always been about offering the passengers a class of their choice and a price to match.
Ryanair on the other hand make their money in a very different way. Their passenger revenues make up much less of the percentage than BA. The buying and selling of a/c makes Ryanair a fortune, only carrying passengers to while away the hours before they flog the a/c. Very clever and smart. Although the current crisis has created a lot of headaches for MOL on the selling side.
You can only compare the two companies from the point of view, that they fly airplanes. Which is like comparing The Holiday Inn, Express and The Marriott chain. We all love getting a bargain when you just want to get your head down, when your after quality, where do you go if they have all gone bust? It seems that a lot of people are really enjoying watching BA suffer, which is very sad. You may well turn around one day and find that the only option you ever have is the MOL style of customer service.
I used to work for BA (retd.) and as such can still get Hotlines.
Take LHR-JNB-LHR on Business. SAA Business class is OK, fit for purpose, sleeper seats etc. £2944 BA Hotline Club £3564 !!! It's the old British Rail syndrome. Put the prices up because we're losing money. Incidentally the dates I put in were 14th August 23rd August - I notice the days before (13/22) are sold out on SAA. Virgin's usually cheaper although I don't like the product, not really flat beds.
So what's the difference? Ancient B747-400, competing with A340-200 running on fresh air? Staffing levels?
Maybe I'm comparing apples with oranges, but at times like these a full Business Class at competitive prices has got to be better than empty aircraft.
The crazy thing is that BA share price has gone up by around 6% today!
Does that mean the market were expecting worse?
It seems to be more a case of, "At least we are doing better than the French"
Quote:
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- British Airways Plc rose the most
in 12 weeks after the carrier said passenger numbers and seat
occupancy are showing signs of improvement, suggesting it may
recover from the recession faster than Air France-KLM Group.
British Airways had a 106 million-pound ($175 million)
net loss in the three months through June, it said today. Air
France lost 431 million euros ($608 million), more than the 194
million euros expected by analysts. The stock fell 4.1 percent.
...
Flew GVA-LTN with Easy on Wednesday night.
Guy next to me came out to GVA in the morning for an important meeting .Flew BA.
Flight was evidently delayed so meeting over ran.
Guy comes back to GVA airport in the evening and tries to change to next BA Flight as he missed the original return.
Lady/Gent at Customer services was obviously so rude.Wouldnt change to next flight or give him credit.Wanted £198 for Flight to LHR.
Guy went to Easyjet and got on LTN Flight for £109.
Guy was so incensed he was drafting a memo to staff on the Flight to say only use BA when there is no alternative carrier.
His staff=800 people.Works for a prestigous company
A319 left for LHR with 56pax i think.Easy with more than double and loads of suits.
He explained that the reasons he flew regularily with BA was they were always were helpful-now they are no better than a LCC
I wonder if they will still be around in 12 months time, do they actually realise their are other airlines out there that people will actually fly on or are the BA board still stuck in some kind of bubble?
They may still call themselves that cloud1, but they haven't been for a number of year now.
I said the appointment of Walsh was a major mistake from the outset and I'm being proved right. He has now been reduced to reactionary measures. There is nothing proactive to stem the tide coming from him.
We're cutting forecast capital expenditure by 20% this year from £725m to £580m, and it's likely to remain at the same level this year 
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