Having just read through BASSA's latest war info memo it seems to be a little thin on the ground where 'facts' are concerned.
You will not have missed all the media and press furore surrounding awful times that the aviation industry is experiencing. This sentiment is being led mainly by our own CEO, Willy Walsh, who seems to be doing his level best to talk our airline out of existence as soon as possible.
A few of the AOC holders who have already been bitten by the downturn might disagree that WW is the devil incarnate in this one and that BA is 'merely' talking down the industry:
Defunct AOC holders airlines 2008-2009
2009
Date Airline Info
Jan 04 Ted Merged into United Airlines
Jan 09 Rak Airways Suspended all flights
Jan 10 Zambian Suspended all flights
Jan 15 Air Taboma Suspended all flights
Jan 17 FlyIAL Suspended all flights
Jan 29 Macair Suspended all flights
Mar 13 Sky Airworld Suspended all flights
Mar 15 East Star Suspended all flights
Mar 26 Central Wings Suspended all flights
Mar 31 Blue Wings Suspended all flights
Apr 01 Kayala Suspended all flights
Apr 04 L'Avion Merged into Open Skies
Apr 24 Air Senegal International Suspended all flights
Apr 27 Air Fiji Suspended all flights
May 01 First Choice Became Thomson Airways
May 01 Thomson Fly Became Thomson Airways
Jul 01 Cargo B Suspended all flights
Virgin Nigeria Name change expected
Atlas Blue Royal Air Maroc may discontinue the brand
VLM To be merged with Cityjet in January 2010
Clickair To be merged with Vueling in mid Jul 2009
2008
Date Airline Info
Jan 01 Alpieagles Suspended all flights
Jan 06 Aero Airlines Suspended all flights
Jan 08 BritishJet Suspended all flights
Jan 23 Coast Air Suspended all flights
Jan 30 City Star Suspended all flights
Feb 29 Boston Maine Suspended all flights
Mar 01 Focus Air Suspended all flights
Mar 08 Bigsky Suspended all flights
Mar 13 Girjet Suspended all flights
Mar 18 Adamair Suspended all flights
Mar 25 ASA Suspended all flights
Mar 29 GB Airways Merged into Easyjet
Mar 30 Freedom Air Suspended all flights
Mar 30 Airclass Airways Suspended all flights
Mar 31 Aloha Suspended all flights
Mar 31 JAA Merged into JAL
Apr 02 ATA Suspended all flights
Apr 04 Skybus Suspended all flights
Apr 05 FlyNordic Merged into Norwegian
Apr 05 Skyway Airlines Suspended all flights
Apr 07 Swazi Express Suspended all flights
Apr 09 Oasis HKG Suspended all flights
Apr 25 Ocean Airlines Suspended all flights
Apr 27 EOS Suspended all flights
Apr 29 Nationwide Suspended all flights
May 03 Mihin Lanka Suspended all flights
May 08 Angkor Suspended all flights
May 08 EuroManx Suspended all flights
May 09 My Travel Denmark Became Thomas Cook Scandinavia
May 13 Far Eastern AT Suspended all flights
May 23 Club Air Suspended all flights
May 23 Pacific Airlines Became Jetstar Pacific
May 30 Silver Jet Suspended all flights
May 31 Champion Air Suspended all flights
Jun 10 MagniCharters Suspended all flights
Jun 11 Aero Condor Suspended all flights
Jun 30 AM Suspended all flights
Jul 16 Flyyeti Suspended all flights
Jul 21 Ankair Suspended all flights
Jul 21 One-two-go Suspended all flights
Jul 23 Aero California Suspended all flights
Jul 25 LAB Suspended all flights
Jul 29 Riau Airlines Suspended all flights
Aug 01 Community Airlines Suspended all flights
Aug 05 Avolar Suspended all flights
Aug 05 Novaair Suspended all flights
Aug 12 Gemini Air Cargo Suspended all flights
Aug 23 Airlines Tonga Suspended all flights
Aug 28 Zoom Airlines Suspended all flights
Aug 29 Deccan Merged into Kingfisher
Sep 08 Futura Suspended all flights
Sep 08 Futura gael Suspended all flights
Sep 11 Air Bee Suspended all flights
Sep 12 XL Airways UK Suspended all flights
Sep 15 AeBAl Suspended all flights
Sep 22 AAAbaBna Suspended all flights
Sep 25 Lat Charter Became Smartlynx
Sep 30 Asian Spirit Became Zest Air
Sep 30 Carib Aviation Suspended all flights
Oct 01 Kyokushin Air Suspended all flights
Oct 03 Aero Tropics Suspended all flights
Oct 05 Galaxy Airlines Suspended all flights
Oct 09 Lagunair Suspended all flights
Oct 13 CargoItalia Suspended all flights
Oct 17 Omskavi Airlines Suspended all flights
Oct 17 Nhtepabna Suspended all flights
Oct 17 Tesis Suspended all flights
Oct 17 VBG Suspended all flights
Oct 17 Lte Suspended all flights
Oct 18 Hansung Airlines Suspended all flights
Oct 20 Flysur Suspended all flights
Oct 21 Aladia Suspended all flights
Oct 29 Sterling Denmark Suspended all flights
Nov 01 Domodevdovo Suspended all flights
Nov 01 Kras Air Suspended all flights
Nov 07 Alma de Mexico Suspended all flights
Nov 18 Inter Airlines Suspended all flights
Dec 01 Siem Reap Airlines Suspended all flights
Dec 01 European Suspending all flights
Dec 01 Primaris Airlines Suspended all flights
Dec 03 Flightline Suspended all flights
Dec 06 OKAIR Suspended all flights
Dec 11 Yeongnam Air Suspended all flights
Dec 14 Air Tanzania Suspended all flights
Dec 17 Air Europe Suspended all flights
Many are smaller carriers however many aren't and I would be fairly certain that the employers and employees are certainly feeling the pain of Willy Walshs' made up down turn at the moment.
He even went as far as to say that the industry wont recover until 2017 when every other analyst has stated that the recession has already bottomed out and the signs of a slow recovery are beginning to show.
Erm, every other analyst? There seems to be discord amongst the city analysts as to whether we are in a 'U' recession where we bump along the bottom for a bit before climbing out of the other side, a 'W' recession (seems to be the favourite at the moment) where we see a small pick up but then worsens before bettering. Or, the worst scenario as Japan has seen for the last 10 years, an 'L' recession where confidence and stock market levels never recover or recover of an extremely protracted period.
Its difficult to judge which of his approaches is the more truthful but what is obvious is that he has got it woefully wrong in talking down our airline to anyone who would listen, solely to create the right atmosphere to push through draconian cuts upon his own staff.
See the list above. Companies that fail to innovate, stagnate and die. The 'rejig' of the route structures and the implementation of new routes and the culling of non profitable routes is exactly what the company has to and must do. The 'overall' restructure will result in a capacity cut. Pure and simple. All the company is doing is moving profitable capacity towards profitable routes. Add to that the fuel usage, capacity and cost per passenger mile of different aircraft types and you can assess correctly the company plan. If they weren't innovating then I would be worried. For example Virgin doesn't have the luxury of a large network and, after his
PR stunt of a profit was unearthed as the scam it was, VA are hurting big time.
If he were a football manager, he would have been sacked long ago. Its akin to taking Manchester United into non-league football and then attempting to blame the pitch, weather, groundsman, team coach driver, tea ladies and/or the fans.
Read the tabloid sports pages Mr. Walsh and see where the blame normally resides when a team is not doing well...
OK lets pull the world of the international airline down to the level of the Sun reading masses shall we? Surely the BASSA membership deserve a far better analogy than that? Especially as the one above makes no sense whatsoever. Ironically the players, groundsmen, team coach or the tea ladies would have no wages or job of the fans don't have the money to come through the gate or buy the tickets no matter how good the team.
BASSA, give your membership HARD facts not made up innuendo, don't treat them as the drones you have been treating them for the past 20 years. They, the membership, deserve better.