British Airways - 2

[HZ123]

That is not correct. When Lord King and Colin Marshall were in charge lots of monies were made and competition was virtually nil? It was a win win situation, far removed from today!

[dwlpl]

Apparently the BA/IB merger will be complete by the end of 2010.

[Flightrider]

Iberia on strike this week, BA staff threatening to strike. A merger looks like a match made in heaven. They could have weekly strikes on an alternating basis between the Spanish and UK operations.

[Seat62K]

I still, for the life of me, can't see the attraction of this deal from BA's point of view. (I can see why the merger might be attractive to Iberia.)

I've heard the arguments from so-called "City experts" but in terms of brand image it looks to me like the Daimler-Benz/Chrysler merger. Merging with Iberia will do harm to BA's brand, without doubt.

The BA/KLM merger would have made much more sense. The plan, as I understood it, was to route low yield longhaul traffic from regional UK airports via Amsterdam, keeping Heathrow for high yield nonstop traffic.

Terminal 4 at Barajas is magnificent (much nicer than T5 at LHR, in my view) but given its geographical position doesn't offer the same connection possibilities.

Latin America? Don't make me laugh! The so-called "experts" referred to above trot out this mantra but are they serious? How big is the UK-Latin America market? Miniscule, I'd have thought.

[marlowe]

Skipness BA did make profit in the regions when it kept Brymon and BRAL seperate, it didnt make profit once it lumped those two companies in with BAR and formed one company BACON . Now I am sure you are talking about Big BA not making a profit in the regions, my point being that there was an opportunity to make money in the regions if BA had used its subsidary companies in a better way.

[Skipness One Echo]

Yes I agree. Once the better managed nimbler franchises became part of the legacy BA cost base, things went donwhill all the way.

[jpthomas72]

Major cut-back at LGW ?

Apologies if this was already mentioned:
TheAirDB.com tells me that BA is cutting a lot of routes from LGW:
Malaga (AGP) , Alicante (ALC), Barcelona (BCN), Gibraltar (GIB),
Krakow (KRK), Madrid (MAD), Malta (MLA). Is this the first sign
of changes due to the merger with Iberia ?
I don't feel too affected by this sitting in BHX (Iberia doesn't honour
us with flights), but not great news for Londoners, EZY gets closer to
a monopoly. Stelios must like this.
Had a feeling of slow decline already when they tried and failed with
Dresden (DRS) and Vilnius (VNO) from LGW. I wonder if they keep
Luxembourg (LUX), another oddity in their destination list, and with
two competing airlines (Luxair and VLM/CityJet).
Just to mentioned also that I find BA's prices for TXL-LHR flights quite
low, not that much more than EZY, at times less, which is good news for
a customer, but likely bad news for the company.
Not much different for FRA-LHR.

[MUFC_fan]

Just to mentioned also that I find BA's prices for TXL-LHR flights quite
low, not that much more than EZY, at times less, which is good news for
a customer, but likely bad news for the company.
Not much different for FRA-LHR.

Remember that there a number of connecting passengers on these flights as well as O&D.

[DutchBird-757]

Could it also be an indicator for some of the new BA routes ex LCY next year? Tendency seems to be that routes that get axed at LGW move to LCY. (NCE/PMI/IBZ/WAW IIRC)

[MUFC_fan]

Could it also be an indicator for some of the new BA routes ex LCY next year? Tendency seems to be that routes that get axed at LGW move to LCY.

There was talk of some more 'sunshine' routes from LCY if more slots became available via the E170/190, however I think that would be a different market all together.

I have a feeling it is something to do with IB and MAD? Anyone?

KRK, MLA and GIB are now U2 territory and aircraft are probably heading into retirement.

[matt_0445]

BA have already cut those flights. They cut them this winter so probably nothing to do with the merger.

[firstchoice7e7]

re LHR-TXL

flown from London to Berlin on 16 occasions in the last year.

BA are consistently at the £145-£150 mark, LH at the £100 mark, EZY £100-£120 Mark, and FR £70 to £100 mark.

So i cant imagine BA are doing too badly on the route

[airhumberside]

Apologies if this was already mentioned:
TheAirDB.com tells me that BA is cutting a lot of routes from LGW:
Malaga (AGP) , Alicante (ALC), Barcelona (BCN), Gibraltar (GIB),
Krakow (KRK), Madrid (MAD), Malta (MLA). Is this the first sign
of changes due to the merger with Iberia ?

Some of those have been moved to LHR, or if already served from LHR, increased in frequency

[MUFC_fan]

What flights do IB still operate with their own machines into LHR?

When the merger takes place, will IB machines operate from T5, considering they are just flying a brand as every plane becomes under one airline.

Or will they continue from T3?

Thanks.

[Seat62K]

I think Iberia might only operate from Barcelona and Madrid to LHR (check iberia.com) but it did transfer other flights to Clickair (now Vueling) some time ago.

I'd have thought there's no room in T5 for Iberia flights. There's never been any mention that these would move to T5 if the merger went ahead.

A problem for T5 is that it was never going to have the capacity to handle all oneworld flights.

[jpthomas72]

BA are consistently at 150 GBP mark, LH at 100 GBP mark

Sorry, I meant one-way, what I normally need. I think LH still has a system of not really thinking of one-way, they offer the 100 GBP return, but one-way is not much less (formerly, it was unaffordable, and on non-UK routes mostly still is). There BA is cheaper, also if you go quite short-notice, from FRA and TXL. Maybe you were also on the LH's now cancelled TXL-LCY, which was unusually cheap.

Some of those have been moved to LHR, or if already served from LHR, increased in frequency.

Sure, but what I wanted to point out is that they gradually leave LGW and its catchment area to EZY - Kent, Sussex, Surrey and such, not the poorest parts of Britain.

Tendency seems to be that routes that get axed at LGW move to LCY.

Hmm, yes, but it that so viable ? Per-seat costs must be higher with a E190 instead of a B737, also LCY terminal capacity isn't unlimited, and it has restrictions for weekends. As for e.g. KRK and WAW, the catchment area of LCY indeed includes the Polish expat community in Stratford, but they can nearly as easily go to STN for FR, oddly even the expats around Ealing use STN or LTN. But sure, I wish them luck, LCY is a great little airport.

I'd have thought there's no room in T5 for Iberia flights.

I hope then BA does most of the LHR flights to Spain, as connecting at T5 is a real advantage now without the terminal change. One should tell esp. the Germans: Wake-up, people, Heathrow (at least with BA) isn't a hellhole anymore. I sometimes wonder why FRA with its long walks, lots of construction and frequent delays is said to be so much better.

[carlrsymington]

I don't post often but I have a premonition (spelling?)

I have a vision or sense (not that I am going to be a contributor apart from buying a ticket) that in 10-15 years BA will only operate from LCY to several business destinations and EZY & RYR will dominate LTN, LGW & STD(?). More importantly I have a suspicion EasyJet will launch a long haul operation from LHR and several european hubs (AMS \ FRA \ MAD) and will decimate BA (cost base being their biggest problem) with Ryanair running a zero frills long haul from Stansted and several other european 2nd level airports. (Not that Stansted is 2nd rate).
BA have retreated from the regions, now retreating from LGW and the wheels are coming off at LHR.
I'm sure BA staff don't want to hear this but neither did Woolies staff.

Gone to tighten straps on my flak jacket \ kevlar hat etc
Finally, I have no shares in any airline or desire to.

[spacedog]

Iberia only fly to MAD from T3. BA operate all services to BCN. All BA services to spain and GIB operate from T3. All flights are code shared with IB and visa versa.

[Skipness One Echo]

I don't mind the locos <= 2.5 hours. That's about my limit, anything more than that and I want a seat of my choice, entertainment, food, water and decent cabin crew.
People blithely assume that the same explosion of travel will happen on long haul if the locos jump in, fogetting that the price of economy travel is well below that of ten years ago in real terms, EVEN with the silly new "green" / budget hole filling taxes.
People might nip to Rome on impulse, fewer will cross oceans on impulse. The dynamic is different.

[IJM]

Noticed that no-one has replied to carlrsymington's post yet, is it so far-fetched that it isn't worthy of a response?!

Anyway, I'll have a bash:-

10-15 years BA will only operate from LCY to several business destinations

Really? So they'll drop all their routes from LGW, LHR and other airports?

EZY & RYR will dominate LTN, LGW & STD(?).

Maybe not too far off the mark for LTN & STN (unless there is a new airport called "sexually transmitted disease" - sorry, I'll get my coat). Not sure if they would "dominate" LGW?

I have a suspicion EasyJet will launch a long haul operation from LHR and several european hubs (AMS \ FRA \ MAD) and will decimate BA (cost base being their biggest problem)

I have a suspicion that it is highly unlikely, EZY don't seem to have expressed any interest in either long haul or LHR. If you think EZY will "decimate" BA through their new long haul operation at LHR, that seems to imply that BA will continue at LHR, which you said earlier wouldn't happen?!
How would EZY's long haul at AMS / FRA / MAD etc. fare against KLM, AF, LH etc?

Ryanair running a zero frills long haul from Stansted and several other european 2nd level airports.

As Ryanair have mentioned this previously, it may happen. I'm not sure how popular "zero frills long haul" would be with passengers (assuming flights would be 7 hours plus - eg. transatlantic?).