GB Airways
The ground handling at LGW is outside the franchise agreement (SunAir / ComAir don't use BA either) and GB is quite right in the current tough trading conditions to seek out the cheapest options for front of house / ramp services and engineering cover.
Indeed its already Aviance who provide many of the ramp services at LGW. They have been invited to tender again as have BA. Simple economics i guess.
This is only for LGW, not for LHR.
I'm not aware of what WW's master plan that you refer to is? Do you mean getting rid of all the regions (Flybe) and now LGW therefore retrenching to LHR?
Anyway, the tender process concludes in Nov and the new contract starts Apr 1st.
Indeed its already Aviance who provide many of the ramp services at LGW. They have been invited to tender again as have BA. Simple economics i guess.
This is only for LGW, not for LHR.
I'm not aware of what WW's master plan that you refer to is? Do you mean getting rid of all the regions (Flybe) and now LGW therefore retrenching to LHR?
Anyway, the tender process concludes in Nov and the new contract starts Apr 1st.
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This months med life magazine makes the situation look even more complicated - there is no mention of BAconesque service from MAN just blurb about how they ensure their fares remain competitive to the rest of the market when you factor in that they include , catering, baggage, OLCI etc as Standard.
Now to my reading that means they either deliberately ignored the fact they dont include the catering from MAN and are therefore misrepresenting their product or finally some consistency is being returned to GB operated services.
Surely if they are having to defend their pricing then the obvious next step is to introduce BAcon service in economy from LGW too - that airport has far more LCC & Charter competition than MAN which makes their whole arguement for BAcn only from MAN look weak.
I'm d**n sure that a 3 row club as out of LGW will sell well out of MAN with some promotion - and the £59 Upgrades could also be offered. Perhaps as well as outsourcing Handling & Ramp GT should look at who handles their advertising because all you ever saw when club was available was Low price but no mention of how little it can cost to upgrade to club.
Now to my reading that means they either deliberately ignored the fact they dont include the catering from MAN and are therefore misrepresenting their product or finally some consistency is being returned to GB operated services.
Surely if they are having to defend their pricing then the obvious next step is to introduce BAcon service in economy from LGW too - that airport has far more LCC & Charter competition than MAN which makes their whole arguement for BAcn only from MAN look weak.
I'm d**n sure that a 3 row club as out of LGW will sell well out of MAN with some promotion - and the £59 Upgrades could also be offered. Perhaps as well as outsourcing Handling & Ramp GT should look at who handles their advertising because all you ever saw when club was available was Low price but no mention of how little it can cost to upgrade to club.
Not seen the recent MedLife (and it's not monthly, think its tri-monthly or seasonal or something) but surprised it doesn't mention Connect out of MAN. It's been this way for a long time now and there are no plans to change it.
GB would love to offer BAConnect services and Buy on Board from LGW too, but have had their requests turned down by BA (as perhaps it would compromise the Mainline product?? not sure of the exact reason why)
Even better would be to operate a hybrid cabin with Club at the front and Connect/Buy on Board in Traveller, i'm sure this has been looked at too and i'm sure GB would love to do this and benefit from the additional revenue like other competitior Low Cost/Charter airlines but they are constrained by the Franchise agreement which so far makes this impossible.
I also agree that a Club/Buy on Board hybrid with suitable advertising and 'upgrade to club' offers would sell well out of Manch, and i'm sure that KH knows this too.... but GB can't do as they please it has to be in agreement with BA and the Franchise.
And to answer your question about advertising - thats all contained in the Franchise fee so BA take care of the majority of it. Indeed you often see GB only BA adverts to their destinations in many national newspapers now. Along with a huge promotion and advertising of 'Upgrade to Club' at LGW.
GB would love to offer BAConnect services and Buy on Board from LGW too, but have had their requests turned down by BA (as perhaps it would compromise the Mainline product?? not sure of the exact reason why)
Even better would be to operate a hybrid cabin with Club at the front and Connect/Buy on Board in Traveller, i'm sure this has been looked at too and i'm sure GB would love to do this and benefit from the additional revenue like other competitior Low Cost/Charter airlines but they are constrained by the Franchise agreement which so far makes this impossible.
I also agree that a Club/Buy on Board hybrid with suitable advertising and 'upgrade to club' offers would sell well out of Manch, and i'm sure that KH knows this too.... but GB can't do as they please it has to be in agreement with BA and the Franchise.
And to answer your question about advertising - thats all contained in the Franchise fee so BA take care of the majority of it. Indeed you often see GB only BA adverts to their destinations in many national newspapers now. Along with a huge promotion and advertising of 'Upgrade to Club' at LGW.
Yup, when club was on offer ex MAN, I used it to AGP & LPA. Now, neither route is served & its bulk standard LCC BaCONesq on the other routes. So I just use the cheapest carrier. If Club was available I'd use it.
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But when club was available the club loads were unfortunatly VERY poor, despite all the money sloshing around in MAN. People in Alderley, Wilmslow etc will spend, spend, spend on a flash car or house or clothes but not on a nice seat that the neighbours are not going to see.
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GB putting its ground handling out to tender ? it's the beginning of the end,a good product being dumbed down into a melting pot of lo cost operators all scratching to make a profit.it is inevitable that some will fall by the wayside,loads of over capacity and nothing to differentiate the service.poor passengers treated like cattle,the whole airport experience absolutely diabolical.who in their right mind will subject themselves to this chaos on a few precious days off from the daily grind.then the pay on board public transport misery,where on earth is british aviation heading ?i cannot believe that the travelling public want this lack of choice..if everyone wanted to pay next to nothing and get next to nothing,BMW and Mercedes would sell no cars,we would all be driving korean noddy cars !there are many customers willing to pay for a decent service or product,it's a shame that no airlines are prepared to offer that decent service.just look at the shambles in the regions since BA dumped its own handling,a world class airline treating it's customers to an appaling airport experience,all to save an insignificant ammount of money,dwarfed by anti competetive fines imposed due to management malpractise.i fear an industry dominated by the lo cost operators.
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Bermuda,
Going out to tender and a possible change....is that necessarily dumbing down? Surely GB has to try and get the best deal?
Last summer.....disastrous performance with massive loading delays. Result.....change to Aviance loading, drastically improved performance.
Engineering....change to VS Engineering and huge performance improvements.
This summer.....punctuality decimated by the structural changes in Load Control. Aircraft at the hold having to refuse take-off clearances due still awaiting final ACARS data. Look at the performance through July and August!
BA Handling has a lot of strengths, but we all know that the working practices and lack of flexibility will never allow it to be truly competitive!
Going out to tender and a possible change....is that necessarily dumbing down? Surely GB has to try and get the best deal?
Last summer.....disastrous performance with massive loading delays. Result.....change to Aviance loading, drastically improved performance.
Engineering....change to VS Engineering and huge performance improvements.
This summer.....punctuality decimated by the structural changes in Load Control. Aircraft at the hold having to refuse take-off clearances due still awaiting final ACARS data. Look at the performance through July and August!
BA Handling has a lot of strengths, but we all know that the working practices and lack of flexibility will never allow it to be truly competitive!
Last edited by LGW man; 13th Oct 2007 at 21:21.
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Whats the latest on the revised SLD? Seems mighty quiet at the moment. Surely, the final tweaks of the Summer 08 schedule are being sorted now,......... so that would imply that the SLD modifications are done?!? Or will GB management say that next summers disruption is due to the fact that the SLD was not sorted in time? [when frankly its GBs fault/responsibility]. Too feeble an excuse in my eyes,....... I hope that the revisions will allow for a better lifestyle, otherwise the company will be looking at more unrest/unhappiness in March (or whenever the vote is scheduled for)
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GB would love to offer BAConnect services and Buy on Board from LGW too
LGW - GIB early morning food service is a hot breakfast, hot drink service & then a drinks service
GIB - LGW evening flight sandwiches & the opportunity to purchase "snacks" combined hot & cold drinks sevice using paper cups - a bit to close to loco for me
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GB Don't offer the option to purchase "snax" on the GIB-LGW service. All service on board is free
Errrm
Free service was 2 slices of bread diagonally cut 1/2 Chicken Tikka on brown the other Tuna on white or a vegitarian alternative.
On the same cart Pringles (two flavours) £1.20, maltesers £1.60??, and other items all available for sale.
Was this a figment of my imagination,did the crew have a sideline or were they selling snacks (i.e. taking money from PAX in exchange for said items)and advertising same on PA?
Front Galley top shelf at least 2 boxes labelled SNACKS
You tell me
PS Not critism of crew, just reponding to earlier discussion
Last edited by west lakes; 20th Oct 2007 at 13:20.
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easyJet are buying GB airways.
Obviously they are after the slots and crew and have run out of other ideas to use all their new aircraft on.
GB have 15 aircraft ?! Should be a nice big base at LGW for Ezy assuming they combine.
Obviously they are after the slots and crew and have run out of other ideas to use all their new aircraft on.
GB have 15 aircraft ?! Should be a nice big base at LGW for Ezy assuming they combine.
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First post on here people so please be kind.
From what I can ascertain, the slots at LHR will be exchanged under 3 seperate agreements.
Whilst BA had the option to buy GB they decided not to and in a statement they have announced that they intend to operate the following routes under full BA guise:
LGW-AGP, LGW-FAO, LGW-GIB, LGW-IBZ, LGW-TUN, LGW-PMI, LHR-AGP AND LHR-FAO.
I believe the real question is which of the routes operated currently by GB will Easyjet choose to dump.
Can Easyjet really make a success out of JMK or SSH?
From what I can ascertain, the slots at LHR will be exchanged under 3 seperate agreements.
Whilst BA had the option to buy GB they decided not to and in a statement they have announced that they intend to operate the following routes under full BA guise:
LGW-AGP, LGW-FAO, LGW-GIB, LGW-IBZ, LGW-TUN, LGW-PMI, LHR-AGP AND LHR-FAO.
I believe the real question is which of the routes operated currently by GB will Easyjet choose to dump.
Can Easyjet really make a success out of JMK or SSH?
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don't like to say i told you so,but check my post of 13 october,predicting the beginning of the end for GB when it announced it was putting its gatwick ground handling to tender.must have had my crystal ball that day as i predicted merger with locost carriers as the inevitable outcome.Gb won't be the last to disappear from the torrid and uncertain uk locost debacle.
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GB/Easyjet
It only seems like Yesterday that GB airways 2 Boeing 737-200 got easyjet off the ground between Luton and Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Who would have forseen at that time that Easyjet would be taking over the well established carrier in the future.
So much has changed since that time, and many observers would have said at the outset of easyjets arrival that the company would not survive. I can only imagine we will see alot more acquisitons going forward.
Who would have forseen at that time that Easyjet would be taking over the well established carrier in the future.
So much has changed since that time, and many observers would have said at the outset of easyjets arrival that the company would not survive. I can only imagine we will see alot more acquisitons going forward.
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It does seem somewhat fatuous to rubbish the ezy success when you mention the fact that GB supplied their original 2 aircraft .
Now , GB have 15 aircraft , Easy have God Knows - I have Lost Count .
Business plan anyone ?
The other little gem historically is that many of us ex - EOGers thought years ago that BA should hand over LGW to GO and thereby keep Easy out of there ! Cue , selling GO for a song to you-know-who and now look ! Well done Stelios , at least we have the satisfaction of knowing that the pilots can OCCASIONALLY be right and do not have to attend Harvard to screw things up !!
Not sure what BA are doing at LGW anymore , especially if they are pulling 777 ops out ?
Any offers for North Terminal ?
Now , GB have 15 aircraft , Easy have God Knows - I have Lost Count .
Business plan anyone ?
The other little gem historically is that many of us ex - EOGers thought years ago that BA should hand over LGW to GO and thereby keep Easy out of there ! Cue , selling GO for a song to you-know-who and now look ! Well done Stelios , at least we have the satisfaction of knowing that the pilots can OCCASIONALLY be right and do not have to attend Harvard to screw things up !!
Not sure what BA are doing at LGW anymore , especially if they are pulling 777 ops out ?
Any offers for North Terminal ?
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BA are keeping most of the LGW 777s at er....Gatwick as they fly key leisure routes to Florida and the Caribbean. These are not and never will be going to Heathrow. Also with the move onto some of the former GB routes, BA will actually be doing more flying which is surely good news for the BA crews who no longer see "BA A320s" flying their routes for GB.
Last edited by Skipness One Echo; 29th Oct 2007 at 16:13.
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G-TTOI All back to white
Shame to see that the GB Airways fleet are now losing the BA livery.
I assume that they will just be repainted into easyjet livery now.
http://www.photos.aero/2008/02/24/15271.jpg
I assume that they will just be repainted into easyjet livery now.
http://www.photos.aero/2008/02/24/15271.jpg