Would it not be difficult for BA to do a deal like that when they report their fleet and committed orders/options to shareholders every quarter?

Mark,

Isn't it tough to know what is agreed in paneled rooms between the barons of aviation and aircraft manufacturers? No that I would follow the conspiracy theorists too closely mind you....

I think if BA wanted to secure an order or options around a theme, there is enough (anecdotal) evidence out there to make it a reasonably safe bet for us to assume that to be the case.

just an opinion...

Heard a rumour that BA are indeed buying 777-300F's to help them cope with the delayed baggage at LHR. I shouldn't joke really as I am flying to ABZ with them tomorrow for a weekend!

BA & London LGW & LCY
 

Aeroskid , I think you are spot on about LGW, I cant see BA in there for the long haul, excuse the pun! However, although LHR is a lucrative base, one would ask is it a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket? what do you think?

Personally, I can see BA sticking it out at LCY as it has a limiting factor re size and scope for operations( hence can be sheltered from competition, hence high fares).. interestingly did anyone read the article LCY plan for growth?
http://www.uk-airport-news.info/lond...ews-030107.htm

The first half of this prediction I like very much.

Do you have this week's lottery numbers, by any chance? :)

Aircraft rivals vie for £15bn as BA gets out its wallet
 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...553123,00.html

Sorry if it's been posted elsewhere.

eP.

BA to spend £1 billion a year on new aircraft over next 15 years
 

According to The Times (January 18)
"The massive order for up to 135 long-haul aircraft, which BA hopes to announce in about three months, has triggered an aggressive bidding war between Boeing, of the US, and Airbus, its European rival. The Franco-German aircraft manufacturer is understood to be offering substantial discounts on the list prices of its airliners to cover the cost of retraining BA pilots and engineers."

Does The Times think the cost of 135 aircraft is a mere one billion quid ?

Edit : OK, I see the article itself says 15 billion.

Damn..... GCC got there before I could post a witty, intelligent put down :oh:

135 aircraft?

57 744s, 45 772s, and 21 767s I think...that gives a current WB fleet of 122 aircraft...

...so BA are looking to replace them all and add a little growth?

I suppose in 15 years time, the last 772s and 744s will be getting near retirement time.

My own guess is that we'll see 748s, 773s and 789/10s in the mix, although I can't help thinking that Airbus will break the bank to get this one...maybe A330s, A350s and a few A380s will be the order of the day. The only problem for Airbus is that they can't offer anything competitive in the 747 sector...the 346 is a dead duck and the 380 too big to replace all the 744s...

And the replacement for 737 at LGW which should hopefully be announced in the next 3 months . Re GB Airways we will all have to wait and see what happens their !

BA Ground Staff Threaten Strike
 

Here we go again:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/...es/6312915.stm

The ballot over whether to accept the companies pension off hasn't even taken place yet.
I think the title of this thread is very misleading - does the BBC have nothing better to report?

Yes it has. I have had mine and returned it.

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about the pensions, exactly what are ground staff unhappy about?
It is all fair and the reason aircrew have a higher pensionable salary is all to do with the fact that retirment has gone from 55 to 65, a 10 year increase as opposed to just 5 for ground staff. Please can someone clarify what the issue is here.

Yep, spotted that. Fortunately, just before booking Dubai flights in a couple of weeks. That's EK getting my money then.

The ground staff will not be led into strike action by the GMB. It is posturing and they have reasons for their posturing.

The vote is on acceptance or otherwise of the pension proposals not whether or not to strike.

Are BA LGW turning into a Ryanair wannabe? I notice that their LGW-AMS flights have started using the locost H gates at Schiphol, rather than the regular D gates (the LHR flights remain on 'D').

Flights dont look like they're set up properly yet, you cant buy below M class fare on any date, the normal lead in fare is N class for all BA Domestic routes which is 3 below M.

I am going to start a new thread:

BA Staff in "Go to work" threat

sure to be a nasty one this!!!!

More strikes, more money for other airlines, yum yum

I am not against BA in any shape, way or form but isn't it time someone stopped them all from throwing their toys and handbags out of their prams, it's their reputation thats being damaged. No longer can I look at the uniform and smile.

In a pole of 20-30 ground staff today. Not one staff member new anything about any strike vote or any threat from any unit within BA?

The GMB are organising the strike ballot. Just like the previous check-in staff walk out, Ed Blissett and his communist cronies are posturing to win members by staging a "who's toughest on BA management" contest. TGWU and Amicus are merging. Once that goes ahead GMB will be a small union in BA with little influence. Blissett knows this and so is talking tough now in an effort to attract disillusioned TGWU and Amicus members to his union before it is sidelined in BA.

HZ123
 

I have had my ballot form from the GMB. Are the ground staff at LHR not mostly T&G?

So it looks like BMed are talking to BMI. Do any of the BMed routes make enough money that BA will bring them in house and if so with what aircraft? They don't seem to be ordering any more than required to cover attrition at the moment, let alone cutting loose a franchise partner.

bmi and BMED latest
 

Sorry but as you can see its gone a little bit further than that, this was posted on the bmi website this afternoon.
MR120


From an internal communication issued to bmi staff.....

Dear Colleague

We have today announced that the bmi group holding company British Midland plc has acquired control of the Heathrow-based airline British Mediterranean (BMED). Our holding company has subscribed to new shares in BMED which will effectively give bmi a 99 percent controlling stake in the airline. In due course we plan to buy out the remaining minority shareholders.

All existing non-executive directors of BMED have today resigned their positions and I have joined their board along with Sir Michael and Tim Bye. David Richardson, chief executive of BMED will retain his position and report directly to me.

We are extremely pleased with the arrangements we have been able to agree with the current board of BMED and the majority shareholders. We have been aware for some time of the opportunity that existed at BMED but have only recently been in a position to enter into a meaningful dialogue with them.

BA's response? http://www.speednews.com/news.htm

Long-Haul Order
 

British Airways has ordered four Boeing 777-200 planes in the first step towards the expansion of its long-haul fleet.
The new aircraft will be delivered during early 2009. BA, which is headed by former Aer Lingus chief Willie Walsh, also has options on four more planes for 2010.
BA plans another major planes order later this year. The planes it has ordered usually cost around $200m each.

The majority of Ground staff are T and G, there is still no mention of a ballot within that group. Ground staff would be ill advised to take industrial action as it ios planned to see a loss of jobs with the opening of T5.

Long-Haul Order
 

Does this mean BA have gone the 777/787 rather than the A330/A50 route now.

hmmm isn't the A50 somewhere in Wales ? :) I expect they will replace the ageing 737s with Airbus...

I don't think this is much of a pointer actually - the 4 x 772ER might be to facilitate disposal of the "odd" G-ZZZ* frames or as a stopgap while BA negotiates with Boeing over 747-8s and keeps Airbus hoping by having a few A380 meetings - like Iberia's 346s in reverse.

Not necessiarily with Airbus as the presentation hasnt been made to the Board yet its due in a few months time !

Not sure that the 777 order means anything other than BA adding some handy capacity...

I suspect though that Boeing are still in the driving seat for the main order...they would love to have another big blue-chip 747-8 customer, and will probably offer a fine deal. And in that sector, Airbus have nothing to offer; the A380 is too big to be a widespread 744 replacement...

On the negative side, if Airbus go for broke, and offer BA a fantastic deal on A350s, will Boeing cut their margins on the 787 to win the business? I suspect that if BA want the 787, they may have to pay going rate...with the US majors expected to order soon, Boeing may prefer to sell to customers willing to pay a bigger margin...

Finally, will the 787-10 come into play?

Exciting times...

To me as an existing 777/747/767 operator Boeing are in the driving seat for the LH order. However, the Airbus A32x orders are ticking up and the B737 fleet is yet to go - and I bet it will given Willie's history at EI. Airbus LH sales should concern themselves with keeping existing A300/10/30/40 customers. The sale they really need to make is to the RAF for both their sake and the RAF's.

BA cancels 1,000 flights to cut 'no frills' losses subsidiary
 

The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/tra...cle2328831.ece
By Simon Calder, Travel Editor Published: 05 March 2007

British Airways is to cancel more than 1,000 loss-making flights over the next three weeks, leaving tens of thousands of travellers stranded.

Each of the targeted routes is believed to be losing at least £1m a year, and the airline has concluded it will cost less to compensate passengers who have already booked, and to pay crew to stay at home, than it will to operate the aircraft.

An estimated 30,000 passengers who have already booked will be affected by the cuts, which start today. The abrupt cuts to flights from Birmingham, Manchester and Scottish airports are necessary "to protect the ongoing viability of the business," BA said in a terse statement.

the article continues at greater length but contains this ...

The move comes three weeks before the summer schedules begin on 25 March. None of the axed routes is expected to be resurrected for the summer. Flybe said it would retain only 35 routes, and none of the aircraft, from BA Connect.

More like "the abrupt cuts to flights ... are necessary because we don't have any pilots left to fly them".

13Alpha

So this is just the start of the next stage of the flybe BAcon saga whats next on the agenda.
I am waiting to see the full press release today on what the full out come of the signing over this weekend
I there some more stiches to unravel from all this at the end of the day not only us workers being well and turely stiched it looks like the travelling public are not comming out of this well either.
Well done W and J what other muck you going to rake up for this monday.

Maths is about right ...
 

The article about mentions 1,000 flights effecting about 30,000 passengers !

From what I hear from BACON crews, these loads are about right !
If you can't even fill an Embraer with all the marketing might of BA, then what's the point ?

Good luck with the job hunting everyone (I've been there twice before). All I can say is that the LoCos aren't nearly as bad as all the hype ...

Best wishes to all the BACON crew who are the ones getting royally messed around by all this. I hope you guys come out of it ok. From what I hear large numbers have got other jobs lined up and are working their notice - with every new management balls-up that sounds like an increasingly shrewd move.