BA hints at job losses as revenue falls

[quant]

British Airways has raised the possibility of significant job losses in the coming year and warned that its revenue will fall by 5 per cent.
The airline was updating shareholders on its outlook for the year and hinted that it may have to pay for job losses. The company has already cut the headcount in management by about 500 from 1,400 but these costs have been accounted for.
The airline has so far declined to speculate on whether jobs would also be lost from cabin crew and its operations division. BA is negotiating with trade unions to freeze the pay of its 45,000 staff.
In a statement BA said: "A similar operation result for 2009-10 to that forecast for 2008-09 has been targeted, before any severance costs in 2009-10."


BA hints at job losses as revenue falls - Times Online (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article5849685.ece)

Are we going to see allot of BA pilots flipping burgers?

:ooh:

[wobble2plank]

Ba has corporate fat in alot of areas!

Look at the 350 ish managers that left and nobody noticed.

Don't forget, apart from BA being a pension deficit with an airline attached, it is an airline. If you can't fly the planes you aren't going to make much revenue.

[quant]

and if you can't get bums on seats to fill the planes then i guess you're going to have to let the revenue earners (aka pilots) go :oh:

dam those bankers :mad:

:ooh:

[wobble2plank]

True, but the fact can't be ingnored that the company still has a bunch of 787 and A380 aircraft on order which, according to Willy, are fully financed and required.

Wonder who will be flying those if BA sack a bunch of pilots?

BA are not 'flush' at the moment with pilots and the 2-5% easing is giving flight ops a breathing space. Monthly flying for LH is still nudging legal max limits and SH isn't far behind.

However, odder things have happened, we will find out in the fullness of time. :}

[Carnage Matey!]

Ten does seem a tad excessive! Normally a gate team consists of 3 plus a dispatcher. Dunno what the others were doing. The staff walking around T5 doing nothing were probably going from one gate to another for their next job. There should be altogether fewer uniforms wandering around next year as the headcount in the terminals is set to decrease from 3000 to 1900!

[johnriketes]

Also read somewhere, there is a freeze on the hiring of non essential staff. Oh really. Would that not be the norm for any efficient company in any event?

I think they mean up until now they have been taking on non essential employees. Rather alarming don't you think?

[747-436]

Whilst impressed with T5 and with the flight and cabin crew, as always, I simply could not believe how many staff there were at the gate during boarding. I counted ten gate staff for a 767. Ten FFS!!

There are not this many required for boarding any aircraft.

BA should be looking at efficiency (and rather large savings) in those areas before any flightcrew would be affected. No doubt BALPA will be saying exactly the same thing, with good reason.

They are looking at ALL areas, so no one escapes.

[bernardd173]

I fly for a no-frills airline so am quite used to things being done in supposedly efficient way.



As SLF the thing that differentiates two airlines is not how efficiently things can be run when all is going well, but how good the airline is at getting you on your way when it all goes pear shaped. What's the point of trusting yourself to one notable LCC who leaves you in Northern Spain for a week at your own expense? The downside is BA doesn't actually need all these people hanging around on good days, but they will never have enough staff on bad days. Increasing the ratio and providing the human touch is what distinguishes a Premium Service carrier from an LCC and allows BA to get higher prices for premium cabins. My experience of over a 90 minute wait in CDG to re-book a cancelled 319 suggests BA is already headed down a path of too few ground staff - hopefully they won't sacrifice too much in pursuit of absolute efficiency - they need some slack.

[silverstreak]

BA are interviewing for 'Regional Station Managers'... No joke (well it is) but at a time when management are being shed, the regions who are already top-heavy with numerous 'BA Duty Managers' are now, going to get a 'Station Manager' at each airport...

The GHA already provides sufficient coverage and manages the BA contract well, so why the need for yet more pen-pushing, thumb-twidling BA management?

With the threat of yet more jobs to go, how can Regional Station Managers, be justified. Only Willie can tell.

Please do!