Tinytim,
Once again, you make many valid points about the purpose of SCOPE.
Naturally, the guys at BA don't like being told the facts of commercial life - but when your back is up against the wall, what can you do?
Hand Solo,
The franchisees do not cherry-pick. They do not go in & audit BA's entire network & decide which routes they like the look of. They look at what is being offered to them by BA, these being the routes that BA no longer consider viable. They then make a decision to take the route on, or not, based on it's commercial potential to the franchisee.
For this, they pay BA huge sums of money - a flat fee for the "honour" of being a franchisee & support services, plus an ongoing cut of the revenue from ticket sales. They certainly do not get anything for nothing. In addition to this risk-free revenue, BA get a continued presence on the route, keeping their face known & providing competition for those who would prefer that BA weren't there at all. They also have their own overheads to pay for.
You don't seriously believe that the function of a franchise is to pep-up an ailing route for BA & then hand it back to them, do you? Maybe in BizzaroLand!
How do you know whether or not GB is making a profit on the MPL route? If they are, good for them, maybe you can learn something from them!
With regard to flight crew & cabin crew salaries, a comparison of payslips during a stopover might be revealing. If the pay is so good at GB, maybe SCOPE should be pushing for BA crews to be on GB payscales.
Anyway, this is rather getting away from the purpose of the original post, which was to invite comments & further information on the state of play regarding GB.
Is anyone willing to comment on the likelihood or otherwise of the entire GB pilot force being forced onto BA's seniority list in return for the co-operation of the BA CC?
Last edited by Miss Inform; 26th Aug 2002 at 14:27.