Sorry, sid - bid speculation or "bid spec" is when the stockmarket believes a company will be bid for, and sends the share price up. Under the stockmarket rules, if there is a significant move of this nature, the company is generally then required to make an announcement either saying they are in talks, or saying they no of no reason for the move.

Doesn't always happen, though - Hanson shares have shot up in the last couple of weeks, but the company has said nowt.

Memo to self, stop using jargon when attempting to communicate! :ugh:

So, LGW IS making a profit?:)

Stockpicker - thanks for that - as I said, I'm rather ignorant of such matters.

I noted that BA's sept traffic stats are just out - wonder whether they are contributing to the higher price - unfortunately whilst I have a basic understanding (numerically) of said stats, I don't know how significant they are in an 'airline business' context. Perhaps you can share your learned opinion on that one stockpicker?!!! :ok:

PS Would a moderator please post on here the reason(s) why this thread has been moved here from rumours and news - I am confused and peeved........

You'll have to ask Danny wot moved it:)

Not as "learned" these days, sid, it's a few years since I specialised in airlines! But the traffic stats were a bit lacklustre - BA said they would see sales growth in the year of 5-6%, whereas we had previously been looking for 6-7% (may not sound like much, but of course the cost of flying a plane from A to B being mostly fixed, getting a little bit extra from the SLF drops straight to the profit line). On the other hand, they cut their estimate as to how much extra they would be paying for fuel this year from £550-£600m to £450m - lower fuel costs, but this impact was again muted because they had "hedged" their costs (you don't honestly want me to explain the swaps market as well, do you? :\ ). So, all in all, fairly dull, and the shares have drifted from their 450p peak - currently 444.75p.

New aircraft order
 

"British Airways has launched a competition for new longhaul aircraft by issuing tender documents to aircraft and engine manufacturers.

The competition, called a request for proposal (RFP), is the first step in a lengthy process before the airline makes a decision on fleet growth and replacement for the next decade.

Airbus and Boeing, and engine manufacturers, Engine Alliance, General Electric and Rolls Royce plus other key component suppliers, have been invited to bid."

More info available on the BA website

Iberia acquisition (BA)
 

On Friday there was a rumor going around that BA is planning on acquiring Iberia (which led to an increase in Iberia share price). Any substantiation to this rumor? I know BA has long coveted American Airlines. Seeing as how AA is not likely to be an elgible candidate, does anyone think BA will make acquire Iberia in the immediate future?

It seems like an odd time to make an acquisition, given the pension issues and the recent announcement of planned a/c acquisition. If not true, does BA miss out on the European airline consolidation play by sitting on the sidelines (cutting costs)?

No one has heard about this?

There is surely no way that BA will buy IB we have enough trouble with pension funds & unions without taking on more trouble.

BA will release earnings on Friday. They will be asked on the progress of the pension deficit and Iberia. It should be interesting.

Perhaps we now we know why the stock priced move as it did? With the announcement of the deal with FlyBe, then Mainline may expect to benefit and so it would be good to buy early.

That fact that the sell off will return BA to the BOAC / BEA set up is very amusing to those of us that have been predicting this. And it would be interesting to hear the reasons why the board changed their mind after saying many times that there would be no LH/SH split.

I hope the BA management drown in their own urine after what they done yesterday. A disgrace to call themselves 'British Airways'.

Watch out all at LGW, where will Willy's chopper fall next?

Sorry if I am behind the times a bit here, but once this BA Connect wind up, er sale goes through, am I correct in thinking that the only bases that BA have flight deck crews at are Heathrow and Gatwick?

Skipness One Echo,

There are about 25 BA pilots (mostly captains) on secondment to BA Connect. They are currently flying the RJ100 out of EDI and BHX. The new subsidiary which BA is setting up will be a LCY operation with all the RJ100 flight-deck crews based in EDI.

Over the coming weeks, BA and BALPA will be discussing the options available for these BA mainline secondees.

The answer to your question could be: LHR, LGW and EDI.

Is this perhaps taking it a little bit too far? BA will still have all their short-haul operations from London, won't they? (Or am I just too young to have a clear memory of the BOAC/BEA split?)

Website
 

The BA website has gotten a mini makeover.Looks nice and fresh, I like it :ok:

Same here, brighter I think:)

BA buys American Airlines' stake in Iberia
 

LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - British Airways said on Wednesday it had purchased American Airlines' stake in Spanish carrier Iberia for 19 million euros ($24.29 million).

BA, Europe's third-largest airline, said in a statement it now owned about 10 percent of Iberia, up from 9 percent previously.

"The transaction is intended to preserve British Airways' two seats on the Iberia board," BA said in a statement. BA has played down the prospects of merging with Iberia or extending its joint venture with the Spanish carrier.

BA have resolved the pension deficit so wonder what is the next big Announcement - Aircraft orders or whats happening with the franchises !

Not quite, I think! Meeting with unions tomorrow (Thursday), if I have got my dates right.

New aircraft orders are next me thinks! Anyone care to guess what they'll order? WW has all but ruled out the A380 after his comments that it would actually worsen congestion at LHR due to the wake vortex ruling recently out. So that leaves: B777, B787, B747-8i or A350.

BA and the Streaky BACON
 

A question:

Does anyone believe that Willlie has got it right in retreating from the regions and starting the reformation of a BOAC oriented airline? Having got rid of BAR via BACX and BACON, LGW is clearly next, because it can no more compete with the LoCos than could BACON. The question is whether this is a viable policy.

Me - personally, and being purely objective I think he probably has, because the BA business model can never make a profit shorthaul, and the margins from Longhaul won't support S/H as a feeder. Interested in your opinions.
All those in favour of the motion please?:}

Point to Point is the future - with the cost base in place, BA can only afford it in London. Feeder/hub model is dead.

Only problem is if BAA is broken up, price controls will cease. BA won't make a 10% margin on the higher feeds as demand shoots up - and the price controls and monopoly position are the only reason for its profits.

Right move in my opinion...future still uncertain.

And does anyone think that WW is covering his arse slightly by keeping just a teeny weeny bit of control of the new larger Flybe or will he dump the shares later to give the impression of recovering some cash out of the wreckage of BRAL/ Brymon BAR and even Highlands. He must be slightly nervous about giving away all those peak time slots at MAN, BHX etc.

Is Big Airlines on the treadmill to a lean clean op?
 

Just a couple of ideas to kick off the rumours....
Seems Big Airlines has profited from the Polonium case with good PR, to be honest deservedly so as they were quick off the mark with the hearts and minds stuff.
The pensions debarcle seems to be approaching a tentative conclusion, watch this space.
Boeing and Airbus are begging to line up long haul aircraft in the chatham flag (A330's outta LGW????)
And finally the stock market seem to be riding the wave with the share prices peaking over £5 today.
So where now for Big Airlines???
Answers on a postcard please :ouch:

British Airways "robs" Cancer Research UK
 

My wife's nephew & a mate of his are starting, hopefully on December 10th, an unaided/unsupported row across the Atlantic from La Gomera to Antigua - same route as Matthew Pinsent & Ben Fogle did with TV crew last year. They are intending to break the world record for the crossing which is 40 days. They have a target to raise £200,000 in aid of Cancer Research UK. On their BA flight out to the Canary Islands they were carrying essential personal items for the voyage and also a substantial medical kit which one would understand is likely to be vital on such a hazardous venture. Despite making the check in staff aware of the reasons for the extra weight BA still charged them £252 in excess baggage charges which effectively reduces what is raised for the charity by the same amount.

What a rotten lot they are!!

Chrimesy, what a load of tosh you wrote! Good luck to them in their endeavour, but you imply that in support of their task, everyone should bend over backwards giving them freebies. Did they pay for their ride to the airport? If driven, did they try and get the petrol free from a garage? BA supports many charities, but it is also a commercial business, and these people bought commercial tickets and knew the rules. It's a bit unfair to apply moral blackmail to every business that they come into contact with. Each capplication does get looked at for its merits- it's not really fair to try and blag an overload citing 'but we're carrying this for charity!' at the check-in desk! Whilst one applauds people who do this, usually the book coming out about such endeavours, the newspaper articles and the TV documentary produced about it, often causes suspicion that personal profit motives enter the equation as well as charitable aims. Should a private business be expected to support every charitable enterprise because of the threat of bad publicity? Is this a form of blackmail?

Well its not going to the regions thats for sure!!!!

I have to agree with Rainboe. BA along with most major airlines, sell a selection of special fares, only available through specialist Business Travel Agents that deal with the voluntary sector. These Charity Fares normally offer an increased baggage allowance. Some airlines will consider "any reasonable amount" of excess baggage in connection with the fare - but it has to be requested in advance. No-one should expect to turn up at the check-in counter and say "This is for Charity mate!" and have any amount of excess baggage just waived through.

BTW - maybe the most generous for this was SN, will be interesting to see if it continues in the guise of the SN Brussels/Virgin Express merger.

I'm not sure how you profit from the grounding of 3 x 763s, never mind the implication to pax that while they'll take care of you afterwards, BA does also fly people who have radioactive substances on them. The cost in staff time in locating 33,000 passengers and an unknown number of crew is also likely to be substantial.

Anyway it's all a big hoax say the Russians:
http://www.russia-ic.com/rus_interna.../in_depth/312/

BA where now?
 

They say that all publicity is good publicity and no matter what happens just keep your name in the news and that’s all you need to know if you really wan’t to be king . The odd walkout by the wage slaves, The mad tail planes, changing of the guard (oz Rod to Irish Willie ) etc. It keeps you in the news it keeps the news out of the news and the end product –everybody knows your name and that’s what count’s if you want to sell volume and keep the city boys, the government, the shareholders and the good old British public happy. But (And never start a sentence with But) Radiation on plane’s is a bit a step too far, I mean let’s ask the golden question “ Would you fly on a plane that was radioactive’ I don’t think I would. But then again on maintenance checks aircraft go through Non Destructive Test’s especially on ‘C’ Checks that use X-rays to look for cracks that human eye cannot see, so maybe this has something to do with it. But do I get the feeling this is not the case.
But keep this quiet, that Russian Guy was a CSKA Moscow fan went to the Emirates Stadium a few weeks ago to watch his team to play the mighty Arsenal and apparently this stadium is one of the so called 12 new government radioactive new sites.

Just to slightly change the subject, Iberia want’s to opt out BA and obviously Oneworld and join either STAR or AF/KLM. Where does this leave Oneworld and BA and AA. Let’s not forget Aer Lingus and Swiss have both left Oneworld. Is Oneworld finished? There is also talk of BA being sold to a middle eastern party. Is BA finished? or is it all a publicity stunt!

I forcasted all that has happened. Jim French and his mates in the channel Islands are dining on local lobster and Bollinger as we speak- they deserve to!

Why so few of you did not see this coming alarms me- you guy's fly aeroplanes so well. You also need to read the tea leaves just as well.

Bacon Slicer.

[QUOTE=GOAROUNDMAN;2997630]But keep this quiet, that Russian Guy was a CSKA Moscow fan went to the Emirates Stadium a few weeks ago to watch his team to play the mighty Arsenal and apparently this stadium is one of the so called 12 new government radioactive new sites. QUOTE]

Glad you never told anyone that then....phew:ugh:

Days of BOAC!!!!!! Return to Thunderdome.
 

Today BACON, tomorrow Gatwick......ask not for whom the knife slices - it slices for YOU!

Actually Echo it was in yesterday's Guardian
http://football.guardian.co.uk/Colum...961601,00.html

:ugh:

Once T5 opens, how much will BA really need LGW anyway?

"Fed up with making too many payments on expensive and unprofitable regional airports? Do those bills mount up each month quicker than they can be paid? WW of London just made one call to Ocean Flynance, and consolidated all of his lets under one roof."

I am another who has been predicting a retreat to BOAC for some time. When the 'Future Size & Shape' project stated that they would retain regions, I suggested that it was a deliberate half way step, so as to only retreat in measured steps.

Large corporations that have been getting bigger and bigger over the years reach a point at which they must either make a staged retreat - or will collapse in one big bang, and then be bought up by a competitor.

The BA high table are making a steady retreat and appear to have (if you pardon the pun) saved the shareholders bacon. :ooh:

I notice the steady push to T5 and so I see the strongest possibility that they will be BOAC out of T5 and nowhere else. The only caution that I would give is that, currently, they are promoting T5 as the be-all and end-all. They are saying (to us the pax) that it will solve all our problems. No company should ever start to build customer anticipation this far in advance of a launch. They should always under promote the new product and then let customer perception and public reporting take it much higher.

Apart from that, they are doing what the big carriers of Europe have so far failed to do. They have seen some of them go bang and are trying to scale back without provoking too many strikes. And - NO - I am not a shareholder.

Oh yes, and they got Eddington to do the business on LHR 3rd slab of black-stuff AND the 2nd at STN is out of the picture for the time being and LGW won't get their 2nd for ages. yep, it all looks good for BOAC Mk2.

Just for the record at the time of BOAC/BEA merger BOAC did in fact serve other pats of the UK. - MAN & PIK with B707s & VC10s to YYZ, YUL & JFK not forgetting BFS, EDI & ABZ with Viscount 700s as feeders into PIK. That said, its sad that loyal BA PAX from the 'other parts' are being treated as second class citizens by the once national airline and that their custom appears not to be worth anything. I also feel very sorry for all the staff out there likely to be axed. - I shall now look to *alliance carriers for my own travel until there is sea-change by WW etc. :mad:

I would be really interested to know how loyal non London residents are towards BA these days, I personally dont know anyone who uses LHR and BA, All my colleagues use the likes of EK making there connections well away from London.

Anybody from the industry with any figures ?

Good points there PAXboy. The way I see it, some big corporations work, like BSBC, Barclays, Coca Cola and Microsoft! BA are in the process of making the most of their biggest asset (only asset?) and that is owning the bulk of the slots at the primary airport serving what is arguably one the the 2 premier cities of the world. As a flag-waving MAN supporter, I haven't got an issue with this........however...

The fact that it's profitable for them to fly to places like Ekaterinburg, Entebbe and Almaty from London, and yet haven't got a clue how to make Birmingham - New York or Manchester - Hong Kong work for them too, is rather bloody unfortunate IMO. It's sad.

MAN777 - I've been avoiding BA and LHR for more than 20 years, using any other carrier and any other transit point as a better alternative. The only time I've ever used LHR to connect was in 1990 when my MAN-HAJ-TXL flight was over-booked.