Thought it was more like the other way round... BA Gatwick joining the GB Gatwick fleet!
And why would you need a ballot? I'm sure you haven't ballotted over the sale of BACon!

certainly likely.... but not the orange one you may be hinting at!!

Well i think it will be the other way but crew will be ballotted at GB if it was a Takeover/ Merger thats what happened at Cityflyer ! What is the latest on this !

Geez... another ballot paper... we're getting good at these!

The company knows exactly what the pilots think,...... they say the management are a blinkered RAF flying club, but they aint stupid,....

Its a shame going down the ballot route is so long winded,.....

Personally I think the big announcement will come out before the result of the ballot is known,.... and then you guys will be clamouring for what you can get,.... (ie Jubilee House will slip into insignificance relative to the big announcement),.........

Good luck to y'all,.........

The Bean

beanflicker

...sounds like you know roughly what the announcement is!!!

Doesn't sound good, yr post suggests job cuts etc - so any chance you can let us know to stop some unnecessary 'clamouring'?

BPM

Aircraft steps at LXGB repainted due to politics following the Cordoba agreement. Now the airport is 'joint use', it was deemed not acceptable to have the steps painted in the colours of one of the airlines (GB Airways). It would have upset the delicate sensibilities of the Spanish.

Press coverage
 

Seems the press down in GIB have got hold of this story - and used this forum for its quotes!! (q.v. rumour mill!). www.panorama.gi, click thru to "last weeks headlines" (21st Dec). Two different stories, one about pilots threatening action and the other about the future of GB.. Also the front page of the printed newspaper on 21st Dec was entirely dedicated to this story. Full page pic of a GB 320 departing in front of the rock and the headline "Changes in the air as GB Airways pilots threaten strike".

Also heard from a couple of drivers (who are being laid off) the company offered them the basic one week for every complete year as redundancy - or two weeks per year if they sign their life away and promise not to go to an industrial tribunal! Shallow or scared?! :D

What a load of drivel!! almost as much as what came out of JG's mouth (apparently),...... who was quoted as saying that the rebrand of the steps in LXGB was nothing to do with local politics, but a rebranding of the Ground Services, into a separate company, to promote and market them separately.

Is he really that stupid to think that just because a set of steps is painted a certain way, that Iberia do not know who they are paying their Handling charges to?!

C'mon guys,... and gals! Wake up and smell the Cawfee,.... this is rebranding of the whole Gib operation,........ 2 planes down there pretty soon,........ (notice how the Summer schedule is pretty vague and nothing is being mentioned about that anywhere),....... I know a memo came out outlining the proposed schedule for the Summer,...... can anyone do any sums to work out if it seems logical relative to the proposed number of planes at LGW (it might give a hint as to whether one or two planes will disappear South for a while),.....

Just a thought

FP

Heard from a reliable source that easyJet are determined to eliminate/obliterate GB by chasing them off their profitable destinations,
Already happened to a greater or lesser extent on AGP FAO VLC ALC LEI MJV PMI RAK and now CMN (via MAD) etc etc. They know BA just cannot compete so no GB presence on these routes means no BA competition as well as one competitor (with any marketing clout) less.

If just two airframes are retained for 'GibAir' at GIB who will fly them?

I seem to remember operating B737-200s for a Gibraltar based company, great fun (the joys of Bar Jimmy, the Picadilly and the Rock Hotel) , however the competition was Air Europe and then Dan-Air. JG seniors proud boast was he had seen off 17 competitors and there was money in the bank to see off more. In those days there was no airport agreement, no FlyGib, no Iberia and no easyJet snapping at the heels.

If the Gaggeros think that they will save face in the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce by once again being the 'local airline' I hope they are prepared to dig deep to fund it.

I am also sure competition in ground handling would impact a nice little revenue stream for our Gibraltarian benefactors!!

I agree it is time to wake up and sniff the cawfee I can't help thinking that the owners of GB and its employees are blind to the realities of commercial life if they think anything can be salvaged from the wreckage of the Johnny Vegas years.

If the airline does fail/significantly downsize following industrial action or the threat there-of guess who will be blamed for the airlines demise!!

A couple of GB/EMA questions...

How is he TFS/EMA/TFS route ding, from GB's persepective?

With BACON going to FlyBE soon, what is the obboard product going to be on the EMA route?

Any GBers heard about any future EMA routes?

Thanks

GB
 

.....So the airbus 320's are having thin seats fitted,(same as the new BA A321's) making way for TWO extra rows, Club E. seat pitch reduced to 33" with a max number of seats 20 (four rows).....airbus 321's even more seats squeezed in, max number of seats in Club 25 (five rows) - except the Heathrow a/c...... oh, and the wet lease of an Excel 737-800 configured for 189.... (same as Ryan) coming in May and G-TTOA back to the lease co....
We had enough issues last summer with scruffy G-BUSJ (BA 320)
what is going on?...

We will all have to wait and see !

Do you really think any announcement will come through pprune? Just chill - if there is to be one, we'll hear when we hear!

I'm not stupid - i know nothing will come through pprune, just was interested to hear what they knew.

Thanks though, i'll chill now.

What are the chances of GB Airways going it alone without British Airways, or just working with BA as a codeshare partner and reverting to using the GB Airways brand? They have an excellent niche route network as mentioned in another post across the Med basin and offer a service standard which in my experience has often surpassed mainline British Airways - with routes from MAN & the regions no longer fitting in with BA's strategy.

BMed to be sold?
 

ATI is reporting that BMed is in discussion for the sale of a majority stake to a group of investors including a Lebanese firm (M1 Group) for STG30m, with the expectation that a proposal will be put to the existing BMed shareholders this month.

IIRC the standard BA franchise agreements provide for the franchise to lapse in the event that there's a change of control of the franchisee - I imagine there are some interesting discussions around that point at the moment, since BMed's value to an investor is very linked to its BA franchise (I'm not saying that it's got no value on its own - clearly it does, in terms of slots, fleet, etc., but losing the franchise would hit its revenue and hence the value of the firm). Whatever the current Waterside view on franchises, I'm not sure, pragmatically speaking, that BA mainline would be in a position to replace BMed in the short term, so I could imagine BA choosing not to terminate the franchise despite the change of control.

Any thoughts?
C.

I think it would be naive to assume that BA has not been aware of every step of the progress on potential change of ownership of one of its franchisees. It has all the control over the situation it could want. There has been some direction recently on its attitude to franchises, and I would think it is happy to let nature take its course. But it plays its cards very close to its chest. We can do nothing but speculate.

BMed - Great News
 

Looks like they are safe for the time being.

Daily Telegraph:

The Mikati family is poised to invest approximately GBP 30m (EUR 44m) to rescue British Mediterranean Airways (BMED), the UK-based airline, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The Mikati family, from Lebanon, have agreed a GBP 3m (EUR 4.4m) bridging loan for the loss-making airline, and will later this month invest approximately GBP 27m (EUR 40m) into the company.
BMED's board yesterday signed an agreement regarding the deal, the report continued. The family of Wafic Said, the Syrian private investor, controls close to 50% of BMED shares, the report said. However, existing investors will be left with very little after the refinancing, which will repay a substantial amount of the GBP 8m (EUR 11.8m) loaned to BMED by Said. One unspecified source quoted in the report said that BMED has become a problem for Said.

Ownership
 

So if Bmed are owned by a combination of Mikati (Lebanese) & Said (Syrian) how will they get on with JAR-OPS / EU legislation regarding majority EU ownership? (Article 4.2 of the Council Licensing Regulation).