"Mutinous workforce". "Put all BA pilots at the bottom of the seniority list - its been done before".

You little sad little men, you are so far up your own you know what you cant see the daylight. What a crock aviation is becoming! Hate BA pilots do you? Well, get a life! So ridden with envy you have to post this bull**it? You pathetic little souls. I guess you loathe every other single major European carrier as well because you are so consumed with envy by their T's and C's too.

Of course, I forgot, I am a turkey and I am going to vote for Christmas, enthusiastically. Of course BA can steal my pension and close bidline, the two factors that made me and 000's of other pilots join BA and I will just quietly go on doing 900 hrs a year at BA@s whim, (soon to be once the "change your roster every 7 days" system is imposed), with a working atmosphere of complete contempt shown to us by our management in every single sphere of the operation.

You are just seeing the begining. The BA board are convinced they have won the battle already. How wrong they are. Most of us are now so incensed we would see BA in the dirt before we lift a finger to help the money grabbing bonus hunters who "manage" us now. If that makes me a radical, great, there are plenty more where I come from.

In any case,even if they wished todoso,isn't there a limit for ownership of UK carriers? They would be limited to 49%.

Still,there could be advantages for BA, not least in future aircraft purchases. Surplus A380s, anyone?

With the way almost every other major British entity is being bought out by overseas companies, I wouldn't be so surprised if this was true ....

Jordan

Well, they had better get ready with the shovel to shovel dosh into the pension fund and an awful lot more to buy my and the pilot workforces good will back. Mind you, the cost savings involved in not paying LCG's and the other board members bonuses mean that the cost savings will pay for themselves!

Before I put forward my tuppence worth, I have to point out that this is in no way a xenophobic, anti-Muslim or anti-anything thread. However there are issues which may make a take-over of BA unworkable.

If I recall the facts, British Ports have recently been, or about to be taken over by a Dubai based company. All well and good, but included in British Port’s portfolio is New York. Something which the Americans had something to say about. I don’t know what the outcome is, but I know the Americans were none too happy.

I could be mistaken here but I believe BA would have to remain more than 50% British to be classes as a UK carrier and retain it's rights to LHR slots. Note the way Virgin is only 49% owned by Singapore Airlines.

It was P&O wot got taken over by Dubai Ports World. P&O's 'port'-folio contained several US operations: http://portal.pohub.com/portal/page?...schema=POGPRTL

Associated British Ports is currently the subject of a bid by a Goldman Sachs-led consortium.

Also re Virgin - I seem to recall that The Hirsute One wanted to retain control so was only ever going to let 49% go. As long as their corporate HQ remains in the UK, they're still a UK company (well actually for tax purposes it's where effective control resides, but that's a different matter).

The VS situation was not comparable to this one as RB owned most of the shares and so could control sales of them. BA is a PLC so anybody could buy them if able to persuade the shareholders to sell them.

... as long as the sale Act doesn't stipulate a cap on foreign ownership (a la Qantas). Not sure what the Act governing the BA privatisation would've said.

There may also be issues with respect to rights but these are not insurmountable and would simply make some creative lawyer a tad richer.

BA and EK
 

They fully deserve eachother.

And I laughed.............................:O

Yes they certainly are, but I think it will only happen if Emirates cancels it's A380 order which is looking a possibility now with EADS shares down 34% yesterday for the year, the only thing to prop up EADS is the A320 production and demend, the A320 New Generation may save them.

You mean P&O - congress realised what a disasterous mistake they made, and are backpedalling so fast it is unbelievable. Don't expect to see any more xenophobic noises from Washington lawmakers for a while - they can clearly see Arab oil money flows to London over and above New York now, and are trying to do a lot to redress that balance.

You are totally mistaken. Company ownership rules are governed by the UK/Dubai bilateral (or EU if relevant) treaty. Slot ownership is entirely divorced from this - BA could sell the lot to whomever they wanted to - if the buyer used them.

I would love to see a private equity firm do this in conjunction with Emirates - so many processes to put right, and so many more efficient ways to make money (after firing terrible management), that it would be a cash cow if one knew what they were doing.

http://www.genesis-music.com/Images/...ngcover250.jpg
"Sounding like an old record"

Hey Shortfinalfred judging by your post I would suggest that you are the one with a chip on their shoulder. Your T's and C's are of no concern to me, and I have worked for BA back in the past. I left becuase I didn't enjoy being 'just a number' and have had a fine time since thanks. So if you are as unhappy and bitter as your post suggests then make the ultimate protest and leave to a company with better rostering and whose management don't treat you so badly.

Interesting that you describe BA as an airline that is a thoroughly unpleasant place to work, but think others are jealous of you? I don't think so :)

Regardless of whether the overseas ownerhip threshold is 49% or not you can still obtain a controlling interest in a plc. From the latest annual report the majority of shares are held by banks or nominees so a bit of board room negotiation over a G&T at the club and hey presto you get to call the shots even without owning over 50% of the shares.

Takeovers are not quite as easy as you think....

Limits on foreign ownership may be set out the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company (and yes, these can be changed), the CAA may also have something to say on the matters, there could be competition issues on certain routes which could require disposal of slots. Its difficult to buy 49% and then join forces with other shareholders because your agenda will be very different...the banks, pension funds will want growth or dividends but won't be botherd by the operation of the company, Emirates on the other had would want to be involved in the day to day activites..not what plc shareholders normally do.

And theres plenty of other factors:
Takeovers never seem to work very well
Emirates and BA are totally different...what would Emirates actually gain (and don't say routes, revenue and profit because they would be paying for them)...apart from a big pension liability, a unionised workforce (I know we all have differing views on the organisation of labour but if you are buying a company you won't be a leading light in the union movement) and a lot of other large financial commitments....

Emirates have got plenty more opportunities in the UAE / MENA areas....they're interest to look at the mistakes the legacy airlines make and ensure they don't make them....

So thats settled, Emirates is noting taking over BA......but I did hear of a Mr O'leary looking at the share price this morning

More than likely Dubai holdings will buy it , that way the dubai banks will get to buy and lease the new aircraft to BA . Thats where the real cash lies and if need be they can reduce their holdings over time.:mad:

I have to say, Id be absolutely gutted to see our British national flag carrier taken over by Arabs....It should be the other way around.

Why so goodwxpilot - if they have the money, then let them make an error of wasting it, and the fund managers investing our pension money who own the company at the moment will instead profit...and ultimately the pension fund.

Incidentally, how much does Lord Marshall own of the company at the moment?