G-BYGE (not G-BYGC) has gone to Dublin for painting, left LHR on Sunday mornnig.

The retro 747 is due out of the paint shop on 18th February.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't take 3 weeks to paint a 747, so this may well be a regular repaint of one that was due.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference ?

The colour of the white! The newer variation is 'brighter' white.

That would be amazing and a welcome antidote to the proliferation of eurowhite schemes around these days. Thread drift, but I remember a few years ago the late evening A320 shuttle from LHR to NCL called up on Newcastle Radar as 'Northeast 12T'. Thought I was imagining things but it turned out it was an ex-Northeast pilot's last flight before retiring. Nice touch.

So the big BAW hinted announcement tomorrow is ?

"BAW 100 It`s coming departing 01.02.19"

The money is on a new TV advert.

Possibly resurrecting last week's "£100 flights" offer which failed spectacularly when the website couldn't cope ?

Is the announcement not the cancellation of all flights from Manchester to HEATHROW prioritising European passengers needs over those from the North of England ?

Why not alternate the cancellations rather than this carte Blanche "scrub em all attitude".

Irony of irony, Heathrow appears to be operating normally
As at 7am.

Because UK regional passengers

a) can often use trains or surface transport whereas only Paris is easily accessible from the UK by train

b) you're a captive market and they prefer the longer distance cash flow

c) its easier to get everything back in place tomorrow in the UK

Try telling that to someone who has just arrived on the QF 9 from Perth at about 5am to find there 7.30am flight to NCL cancelled. Or indeed any other long haul arrival into LHR this morning with onward domestic connections to NCL or MAN.
Next flight to NCL about 3pm. Long wait!.

BA 100 appears to be a 90 second ad just sent out to Exec Club members (of which I am one which is how I know).

Not really mate... Outside London, if you're in any English or Welsh city other than Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds or Bradford, KLM are essentially your national airline. Don't know about Manchester or Leeds/Bradford, but from Newcastle, KLM tend to be cheaper to get to most places.

No need to remind me!

Just about any route to the UK is cheaper from Europe if you avoid LHR - and a LOT pleasanter!!!

So are BA. Because a firm takes over others, almalgmates some etc doesn't change a great deal, other than staff, logos etc. Ford have no doubt swallowed up all manner of smaller firms along the way, yet nobody would deny they are still Ford?
Isn't KLM Air France anyway? At least, that's what it says on their aircraft:
Ship Photos, Container ships, tankers, cruise ships, bulkers, tugs etc

Yes OK but I was touching a bit of stand up humour - Throw in W1A, 2012 Ab Fab outnumbered and a sprinkle of League of Gentlemen - get my drift>?
Obviously I was wrong and folk didn't get it - my mistake -

Exits stage left

Yes - don't give up the day job... :ok:

Don't apologize Rog747, you were not to know this thread was full of snowflake PC lefties

I don't understand how BA through any predecessors can be 100 years old. Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd started public services in 1919, but closed down and was liquidated at the end of 1920. Handley Page started similar services in 1919, they also closed the service down in 1920, the company carried on of course as an aircraft manufacturer but they never sold out the operation to anything that formed BA. How does this make BA 100 years old this year ?

Have you not heard of Public Relations? How else are they to help people forget the severe data breach of 2018 or the data centre 'melt-down' of 2017?

At a cinema last night, I saw their '100 Year Advert'. I'm guessing from previous comments that it's not for discussion? ;) But then, there is very little about it to discuss ... :rolleyes:

I started working for BA in the 1980s and met both Colin Marshall and John King at the various corporate days that were in vogue then. The focus was always on building a new brand "The Worlds Favourite" and effectively trying to get the two bits of BEA and BOAC to work together.

Only later did the idea of historical appropriation start to show - this was after the World Tails fiasco - and followed from the subtle rebranding thereafter.

You can see the first real mention in the F to S video "Aviators"


I describe the current marketing rubbish as the 45th year Centenary :rolleyes:

This was when the Worlds Favourite Airline in 1989 was still riding high and I think most of us Brits and Yanks were very proud of it.

Many of my pals at BMA LHR went over to be L/H Crew at BA in the mid 80's and are still there now clinging on to try and give a great service as they still like their jobs, but,,,,,

Must be a candidate for the best TV ad ever. Can you imagine having to pitch to the head of procurement for the budget for a similar one these days?!

It's a fantastic ad. It's worth bearing in mind that it comes from a very different time. The worlds favourite airline then carried '24 million', in 2017 BA carried 45.2 million passengers. The industry is unrecognisable, volumes through airports have exponentially increased, greater direct routings have emerged, low-cost (and maybe low comfort) travel in both long and short-haul markets is a popular choice with many and a better way is unknown to the millennial generation and younger.

I always liked this one...

I'm booked to go to Austin in September. I thought Austin was a 787 route but looking at seats the map is for a 747.

Which made me wonder.... with the 787 ETOPs/EROPs problems are BA extending the use of some 747s beyond the announced retirement plans to help overcome the 787 problems? Austin can be a direct substitue because Bergstrom has a nice long runway but in other cases I guess subbing a 787 with a 777 on Newark (for example) would need that 777 to be replaced by a 747 on whatever route it had been flying.

The Austin route has been a real success for BA , it has been upgraded to a 777 300 last summer and this summer have put on a 747 which on some days is the larger club cabin of 86

OK, I was reading too much into it!

Squeaky bum time for the pax on board... I can't say I've ever seen a GA quite like it. Is this purely weather or over compensation on the flight controls?

The winds from the Rock give off rotors - this was quite severe - today strong winds, clear skies warm temps
wind was gusting 30 even 40 from the East

If it was a technical issue affecting the control the crew would have likely declared that with a pan pan or even a may day

Here's the press release...

IAG Printer Friendly Version - News Release

BA profit £1.952 Billion.

Full results here..

IAG Printer Friendly Version - News Release

BOEING 777-9 ORDER FOR BRITISH AIRWAYS

International Airlines Group (IAG) is ordering 18 Boeing 777-9 aircraft, plus 24 options, for British Airways.

They will be used to replace 14 Boeing 747-400 and four Boeing 777-200 between 2022 and 2025. Each aircraft will be fitted with 325 seats in four cabins.

British Airways' 777-9 will be powered by General Electric GE9X engines. The engine order includes a comprehensive maintenance package with GE.

Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: "The new B777-9 is the world's most fuel efficient longhaul aircraft and will bring many benefits to British Airways' fleet. It's the ideal replacement for the Boeing 747 and its size and range will be an excellent fit for the airline's existing network.

"This aircraft will provide further cost efficiencies and environmental benefits with fuel cost per seat improvements of 30 per cent compared to the Boeing 747. It also provides an enhanced passenger experience".

British Airways has 135 wide-bodied longhaul aircraft in its fleet (12 A380s, 30 B787s, 12 B777-300ERs, 46 B777-200s and 35 B747s) with 12 more B787s, four B777-300ERs and 18 A350s on order.

IAG Investor Relations
28 February 2018

Notes to editors:

· The Boeing 777-9 list price is approximately US$442.2 million.
· The list price is the sum of the airframe list price, engine option list price and the price of certain assumed specification change notices against which price concessions are made. IAG has negotiated a substantial discount from the list price.
· IAG has a range of financing options and will choose the most appropriate source closer to the delivery time.

As will every airline's 777-9s.

Hot Breakfast Wrap
 

Which muppet in BA decided that the new breakfast service in WT+ would include a very hot breakfast wrap, too hot to hold, served on a paper napkin? I felt extremely sorry for the cc on my flight yesterday, who clearly were just as annoyed by the sheer lunacy of the idea as the passengers.