Its official................. a friend of mine just received a call from BA telling her that her course in September has been cancelled (good thing she hadnt handed her notice in yet!).
Are people who are currently on courses being sent home? Also what about the peeps that have just handed in their notice with their current employer (i.e. within one month of promised start date)......
Guess the next courses for LGW will no be planned until January at least!
I fear there will / may not be any requirement for CC new starters next year, expect up to 20% + flights will be withdrawn for the winter and maybe next summer.
They are paying out one week's redundancy.........
So a cut in crew numbers means a cut in services which in turn means the air frames flying less which is where they make their money......
Surely BA are not going moth ball 20% of their fleet? Or are airframes being moved to other bases? (that however would mean still having to recruit crew....).
RYR and EZY are increasing services as well as higher aircraft utilisation which seems to be a 180 degree oppposite strategy of that of BA......
For those of you on courses being sent home, or those who have already handed in their notice my sympathies! For those who are still flying mainly in that colour when traffic lights are not operational, at least you still have a job!
Paperwork seen and viewed sent out by chief pilot indicated that 744,757 and LGW 737 would be parked up this winter and some would not return. BA will focus on the high return and transfer services. Unofficially the rumours from Waterside is a large cut at LGW and perhaps transfer of some 77's to LHR. Several 767 are/have been refurbed to cover / replace 777 operations.
That is a huge strategic move (not neccesarily a good one......). So does that also mean a reduction in flight crew (and groundstaff, back office staff etc)?
However more importantly:
1) Will BA now lose its slots at LGW (surely it will - more orange to come then!) and will not get them back for next summer?
2) BA will have to give up its ground handling license at LGW (1 of 5 in total)?.....so more redundancies there!
Farewell BA LGW - been some fun years, but thats it!
I am told that the 76s will have the interiors inproved but this may mean only 'Club' as there is also a plan affoot to downgrade some LHR lohghaul by removing First. Re; LGW slots we can retain them without penalty over the winter period and who knows what will happen next summer? I feel sure that a lot of us will question why so many routes were started tgis summer from LGW going head to head with the world and his wife that were already operating to these destinations. Using 73's that are in poor condition inside and cannot send out much of a positive message to the punters. As yet nothing has been said about the LGW-JFK this winter and it would take up acouple of slots daily.
Ref: slots - as the worlds busiest single RWY airport not utilising your slots, even over the quieter winter period (did I say quieter with all the ski traffic?) retaining your slots with no commitment to utilise your slots for Summer 09 will have some other operators knocking on the slot shops door (and they will have a valid legal case as well).
Time is long gone when BA could do whatever they wanted and stick 2 fingers up to the rest (at LGW anyway). Your ground handling license has been a bone of contention anyway (totally clogged up South with empty stands all over the place at the North).
Shooting yourself in the foot seems to spring to mind!
TEACAS........are you seriously telling me that the stands in the South during summer are so full that most have to go the 130's and 140's because the BA fleet is up in the air? (ask yourself this; if that was the case (which it is not!) why not utilise the empty stands?).
Looks like the 01st of April has come round early again!
Trust me - having worked both in the North as well as South on Dispatch it is all down to licenses; with stand utilisation being very poor in the North and further schedule reduction this winter as advised via this forum chanches are this will now be addressed.
Have a chat with the likes of Transat who pay for a jetty stand bur reguraly end up on 136 etc.....or have a look at 31 to 38 with slot 1 EZY followed straight after by VS & MON/ZB with NWA often having to wait in the cul de sac for stand clearance....do I need to go on? When was the last time you saw an a/c waiting for a stand on 63 etc?
I am not having a go at BA (I wore that uniform for over 10 years); point is that things will be changing at LGW with BA pulling out capacity and the new open skies agreement.
Why if they are cancelling courses are they still recruiting? I know 3 girls who have gone for interviews today for LGW crew. Has no one told the recruiters about the course cancellations or is something else happening?
BA have not announced anything yet - a 20% cost reduction in CC will only be really cost efficient if you follow it through all the way down to FD, Groundstaff, Back office etc etc (all as discussed previousy).
Now I will give BA some credit and I think they are considering a strategic move but nothing has been confirmed as of yet, however in the mean time as not to screw up the lives of many people have been advised that courses have ben canx. Especially for those who were about to hand in their notice this is quite considerate.
These courses might never take place, and the peeps who are having interviews might end up ina holding pool for the next 12 months with nothing at the end of it....
However, it might all be back to 'as you were' within weeks as the winter program gets finalised.
Well I went for an interview with BA last week and just found out today that I wasn't successful,I was half expecting this what with them cancelling training courses.
Not all bad though as have a job as crew already.
Because they are filling their pool with candidates for future training courses. This is why they have been recruiting intensively. It's efficient when they need crew in the future!
Booking loads for the winter aren't as good as expected.
Also, they are offering unpaid leave on both EF and WW fleets. No word on cancelling any courses for EF but if they did, it would not come as a surprise!
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