Loaded, you forgot the proposed sterling£66 transatlantic fares
out of Deutschland.
Swingeing cuts you propose that although a step in the right direction and probable ultimately necessary will do nothing other than engender more ill feeling in the company.
Instead of such drastic cuts as you identified directly affecting the "front of house"staff that made the airline "the worlds favourite, you will need to take an educational approach to try to rationalise to those company employees what is needed. Unfortunately that would invovle the unions who traditionally have little capacity for forward knowledge, their leadership long since forgetting what work is lke in favour of a desk job and the perks of being a union boss.
In any company, to increase shareholder value you need to make profit. there are only two guaranteed ways of doing this....cut costs. which BA has, and will need to continue to do, but you mustn't neglect to increase sales for an increased income, and you will need to work towards this also.
It is patently unfiar to base any comparisons between any long haul flag carrier with any LCC. Bottom line, yes both types of operator both carry passengers,but that is (currently) it :
There are offcosts and on costs associated with LH that the LCC's havent historically had to provide, when they begin these operations they will see their costs increase . Perhaps the operating cost savings offered by the 7e7 will contribute towards reducing the net impact of this increase, but the 7e7 will not be available in sufficient numbers until well into the next decade to satisfy this demand. insofar as aircraft provision, Boeing have to market the 7e7 as a p2p aircraft as an alternate market for buyers who are looking for the 380 which has been based on a 30 year economic model proven by boeing itself with the 74 series. It is a long time until the 7e7 is available, but conversely, the 7e7 is not providing anything, other than operating economies that the 767/777, dont already.
The threat of new eastern european start ups with lower on costs isn't an new threat...think of the eastern carriers and their labour advantages. If we werent the only EU nation to acknowledge the EU legislation BA wouldn't be disadvantaged. Every other eu legacy carrier gets support in some form or another. Think KLM AF northwest tie ups as anticompetitive at europes only 5 runway airport....why cant BA tie up wioth someone without surrendering some of the most profitable slots at LHR..
Concessions to the regulators need to be made to make some ground back. retreat fully from LGW, surrender all slots there but maintain LHR fully. Use T5 as the H&S operation for mainline and rebrand CitiX as the LCC side of the airline using a hub out of Man, and other P2P in exchange for the slots given up at LGW. Mainline and CitiX are already run as separate operations. a little fleet consolidation/rationalisation would be required. Mainline an eintirely 777 fleet. You have the benefits of LCC model for the premium service. Use CitiX with a newer fleet.
In respect of your management, take the time and trouble to find out why you need so many managers. Yes you are slightly top heavy, but only becuase of the cuts imposed over the last 3 years. Anyone calling for management cuts to LCC levels needs to take a look at the operational requirements of the airline and what is needed behind the scenes to make this happen, then factor in the other legacy operations that go on and the services provided that are not pax oriented.BA holidays, BA credit cards......one world.......payroll....pensions.......planned maintenance management........a/c procurement property acquisition and disposal......accounts....... christ I could go on for ages. Management levels will fall too.
Loaded & Swiss T are both right, you will need to change, you will neeed to cut costs further, try not to focus on a single group within the company but across the board. Better to do it in a cooperative organised fashion where you can negotiate the phasing out of benefits and trade off for some element of profit related pay than to rely on the liquidator going balls out for TUPE when someone steps in,
must go now. work beckons