Longhitter. BA is the only major carrier in Europe with a pension fund on it’s books??? Can you expand on your view of this, because my airline (bigger than BA), and very much in Europe, certainly has one, properly funded (read no deficit). And I know of four other major European carriers that have one. I realize that pprune is very much orientated towards the UK side of the business. Maybe you meant no other major UK carrier?
BA management played a very smart game by allowing this deficit, and to let it grow, even in years where enough money was coming in to make good on its contracts. This has already resulted in a major reduction in the whole pension scheme at BA. I am sure this crisis will be used to put the nail in the coffin of what is left. It is the Anglo-saxon way of doing business. Let the bonuses roll!
As example of the UK centrism on pprune:
A thread on Ryanair maybe charging for toilet service can rant on for weeks and count hundreds of post. But; two days ago a joint venture was signed between Delta Airlines (which has integrated with NWA) and Air France/KLM. Which will control 25% of the transatlantic market, represents around 12 Billion Euros in revenue per year. Each day 50,000 seats across the Atlantic are offered. And not a peep on pprune.