Remembering that Cityflyer was born out of BAConnect, I don't think that this would work. If it had, why on earth did BA not simply try to re-equip BACON with a new fleet to resolve the historic issues? Flying ERJ's instead of Avro's won't make the difference on it's own.

If BA tried to move back into the regions then I think they'd struggle to find a niche, their product (whilst better than most) would be at a price point too high to remain sustainable. The likes of Flybe have expanded at the expense of BA simply because they had the right product for the market at the time. I'm sure that things might change in the future but personally, the only way I see BA being a part of the UK regions will be by codeshare with the likes of Flybe, or by obtaining a majority stake in Flybe. I'd guess that the former is more likely than the latter!

I believe it was tied up with getting rid of all BA ground staff within the regions cutting the costs of handling at a stroke. Also the BA internal accounting was a nightmare, this is a company that used to pack them in BFS-LHR and still lost money due to having so many connections with the revenue allocated to long haul and not short haul. When British Regional came in house to become part of BA, the entire Jetstream 41 operation went from profit to loss over the weekend of the buy out due to different procedures of revenue sharing and accounting.

Cutting all that **** out of the operation and having a stand alone point to point operation at LCY with paid for aircraft allowed the chance to make enough money to generate a business case for investment in the new ERJ.

BA had shovelled money into the regions with no payback for decades, LCY has come good in a little under three years.

Any British Airways news?
 

Just wondering if anyone has any news of potential route or fleet developments at British Airways for 2011 in addition to those already posted.
Would also be grateful if anyone has any more information re the remaining parked/stored 747s.
Anyone got any comments on the December traffic statistics?
I am just a little surprised that one of the UK's major airlines has such a quiet thread!

Thanks.
V.

Sorry forgot to mention that I had read on another forum about the possibility of some of the 767s, particularly the Long haul ones, having a major refurbishment owing to the late delivery of the 787s. Apparently this may be part of Boeing's compensation package to BA for late delivery of the 787s.
Any view on this?
Thanks.
V.

There has been a lot of speculation about new long-haul routes from LGW, such as FLL and routes to the Far East. However, there haven't been any announcements after CUN was launched. BA has just announced a new Head of LGW, so it seems that LGW may be set for growth.

There has been some speculation that BA could return to KUL (from LHR).

December traffic stats were not surprising given the snow disruption.

Haven't heard anything about more 747s being returned to service.

There have been many rumours about this, but nothing has been announced. A refurbishment of this nature would be announced by the airline to The City.

Personally, regarding Cityflyer, I think it is an invaluable asset.

If I were a business person working in London and I travelled around Europe on business, as a large number from the city do; I'd certainly stick with one carrier and take advantage of their FF scheme.

So for example someone commutes 3-4 times weekly between LCY and AMS on BA Cityflyer. Then once a month they travel to NYC/DXB/ORD/NRT or whereever on business. Who would they fly with? It sure as he'll wouldn't be Star or Skyteam.

Lucrative passengers such as this are a major part of BA's long haul front cabins and without them many short haul routes, both Cityflyer and mainline, would not be justified.

Just my opinion but as a airlines they need to keep hold of those lucrative premium passengers!

So, it's farewell to British Airways plc. IAG shares start trading tomorrow:

IAG - IAG Home

Good to see that BA's fleet contains no A318s or Embraers, according to the IAG site.

Wake up, IAG.

c52, the fleet information for the two merging airlines is stated at 31st March 2009, ie before the delivery of the aircraft you refer to. These are referred to in footnote 11 to the fleet list.

Why they did not just use more up to date information (which is, in any case, given in the merger documents also available on the site) is anyone's guess.

SFS

What a weird thing to do. I certainly didn't read all the footnotes.

Footnote 10:

What were they doing with a Jetstream 41 anyway?

Synergies
 

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said in a statement: "The merger will lead to annual synergies of 400 million euros from year five."

Just in case anyone missed it, that means their wages bill is going to go DOWN by 400 million euros a year.

In other words: about 10,000 people are going to get sacked.

I guess each of us will know at least one of them.

Sad.

Were going to operate as a corporate shuttle for the hob nobs

Note the figure for synergies includes revenue benefits as well as cost (and most of the benefits from European consolidation have been on the revenue side).

There will obviously be some redundancies as Head Office functions are consolidated, but cost savings will also come through joint-procurement etc.

In terms of front-line employees, I can't see the merger having that much of an impact.

Not that is important to the world, but big mouth strikes again: Michael O'Leary had something to say about BA in an interview with "Manchester Confidential":

:eek:

lol, ive heard though that WW and MOL are golfing buddies, just banter

Stored 747 Return to service.
 

Just wondering when G-BNLG 747-400 is due to return to active service. It was ferried back to Cardiff September 23rd 2010. I imagine it takes some months to get everything overhauled after a period of time in storage. Are any others due to follow? I was reading somewhere that the two 747s that stayed at Cardiff rather than Victorville will probably be scrapped. Can anyone confirm this? As always any news and views welcome.

Thanks V.

'NLG is due in service in the next few weeks - before the Summer schedules I would surmise. No definite news as to the others but "word" is at least 2 more over the next 12 months or so. As to the condition of the the CWL aircraft, they have had so many parts removed and have been parked in a salt sea airstream for so long I'd be suprised to fly either of them again............

Many thanks ETOPS. Would be good to see most of them back in service, especially as demand picks up. British Airways seem to be doing well with the new First Class cabin. Sadly I agree with your thoughts about the two 747s at Cardiff.
Thanks again.
V.

Just a little interesting snippet, as reported in the Irish Examiner from Willie Walsh on Friday night:

Mr Walsh, former chief executive of Aer Lingus, was guest speaker at Cork Chamber’s annual dinner at City Hall on Friday.

He said BA is looking at Shannon as a place where it might expand and is focused on destinations such as Boston and Washington. The pre-clearance facility at Shannon for US flights is working out "really, really well" for the airline, he added.

Is he hinting at more LCY originating flights?