Many thanks Barry,
Sorry for my ignorance, its been a little while since I've been around the Cranebank coffee room rumour mill.
So just to clear things up for non-BA types such as myself, the concise story is this, please anyone correct my misunderstandings, conjecture and blatant lies:
BA to fly from CDG, BRU and MAD maybe with a cheeky FCO thrown in too (why not).
Crewing - Well could get current staff to move abroad or employ new guys, options as I see it are:
Yanks - AOC and N reg issues, saying that how many do TCX and TUI employ every year as contractors, plenty of guys dual FAA/JAA qualified
Johnny Foreigner - Multitude of issues however BA already employ groundstaff in every airport mentioned, is it hard to add 14 pilots (guess) per base?
UK based, existing BA - 'hey fancy a move somewhere sunny?'
UK based, non BA but want to work for BA (kinda/possibly/definitely)
Will there be a recruitment drive? If so, whats likely? 700 hrs min on type required, therefore major UK charter operators loose a lot of staff which in turn is filled by recently qualified CTC/ab initio/SSTR guys
Will existing BA numbers be able to manage if they entice crew abroad?
I suggest many a BA captain/f.o. has a nice barn conversion outside Paris/Madrid/Barcelona/Milan/Provence and may jump at the chance to avoid the commute to LHR.
Current BA Pilots - Not happy if management opt for non BA mainline crew, why?
May ultimately cost mainline jobs via UK hubs if foreign services go well and non mainline crew employed for satellite cities.
Backdoor to employ others on less T&C's than present crew, therefore eroding things from the bottom up.
(don't know the setup was with BMED, but LoganAir fly with BA livery and get **** pay and don't see a whole lot of strike threats from mainline in support, or is it only juicy 7.5 hour Shanwick-Gander routes with a juicy layover that cause this uproar)
Union - Recognised unhappiness, in meetings with lots of cucumber sandwiches, much waggy fingers at management
Fleet - Will they need to acquire new 75/76's or with the current lot do?
Structure - Do something similar as with Go, except ditch the circles and keep the union jack or possible psuedo-BMED arrangement?