Reports coming through BA and BALPA have had fresh talks concerning Gatwick and an agreement has been reached. More details tomorrow.
A new ballot is to follow.

Internet chatter of some A380s being used on short haul routes (possibly FRA and MAD) within Europe in November to get crew familiar with aircraft again, prior to longhaul use. Any concrete and verifiable details ?

BA to bring A380s out of long term storage
 

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel...-b1931883.html
Initially on short-haul LHR to Europe.

Makes sense, Iberia have been operating A350 and A 330-300s for many months into Heathrow and Madrid was a destination that has been used for crew training and now famil before.

No disrespect but Iberia has operated at least one daily flight (usually the 6/7pm) with a widebody DC10/A300 since the seventies specifically to connect with South America and for cargo.

Now use of the 388 to get hours upto to speed is certainly a welcome move.

Nowadays it's typically two, sometimes three, daily widebody rotations, usually A330 or A350.

Plus BA usually using a 777 daily.

Restarted WBs on MAD in September after nearly a year's break - currently 3 times a week with a 787.

Rutan16

There’s no ‘and’ about it, it’s entirely for the cargo. Mainly fresh food. So much cargo that baggage is often left behind and sent on another flight, freeing up the entire hold of the wide-body for cargo.

A lack of direct BA flights to South/Central America and a reduced schedule through MIA is the reason for multiple wide-bodies on LHR-MAD during Covid times.

vectisman

Anyone know any more on this? What concessions have been made to resurrect this proposal?

BALPA ballot has ended and they have voted in favour of the new deal

New codeshare with Kenya Airways. Yes, I was surprised. The website is reputable so I assume it is true

Result of Alex Cruz scorched earth policy at the start of the pandemic. Scrapped 31 perfectly good 747 aircraft which were not due for retirement until 2024. All the wide bodied fleets are working flat out at the moment, with the exception of the A380 which are slowly being reintroduced. There are no spare wide bodied airframes at the moment. With USA opening up next month something has to give.

BAs current performance is nothing short of abysmal. Their punctuality stats ex LHR are appalling.
The current Heathrow management team is shambolic no structure no leader no direction.
Sean Doyle has been in charge now for just short of 1 year and has yet to put his footprint on the direction he wants to go. He inherited a real :mad: fest from Cruz but can’t hide behind that and COVID for ever. At some point he needs to make some sort of statement and action. Ultimately he is CEO and is the one who is accountable for the complete mess at LHR.

Scrapping the 74s was short term money. CEOs no longer look even 5 years ahead.

It also didn’t make total financial sense. I guess BAW owned all their 744s and paid for a long time ago… so no lease rates. Yes, they are fuel heavy, but it doesn’t cost much to keep them in parking / long term storage down at CWL or elsewhere. Not to say that some withdrawals would’ve been inevitable.

This problem definitely isn’t exclusive to BAW however.

From one website:

<<Passengers travelling from Heathrow to Nairobi with BA will be able to book connecting flights with Kenya Airways to destinations including Douala, Zanzibar, Lusaka, Mombasa, Addis Ababa and Entebbe. BA currently operates four flights a week to Nairobi using a four-class B777.>>

Is the suggestion from the team here that if BA had retained it’s 744s it would allow them to return to operating interesting “add on’s” to it’s Nairobi services instead of this code share, or is the thought that there is now enough traffic to justify the likes of Dar or Mombasa direct to/from London?

Those with long memories will know BA used to operate the 744 (and before that other long haul types ) to places such has Dar and Mombasa as extensions to the NBO services years ago and I think at much the same time the 767 did one or two dedicated non-stop services to that part of the world.

That all stopped because the economics didn’t stack up….has (potential) business increased so much that the 744 Afrika Corp :ooh: needs to be reformed, or is the code share perhaps a smarter move than we think?

The team might also be surprised at just how much it does cost to keep an aircraft mothballed (in the case of BA's 747s probably for several years) in a state that would permit a potential return to service. It's not simply a question of parking it in the desert to await the breaker's axe.

I think the debate about the 744s is completely academic - were they still in the BA fleet today, they wouldn't have enough cabin crew to run them, just as for the rest of the fleet at the moment!

The 320s that operate to KEF, are they the standard European fit? i.e. with 'biz' as standard with blocked middle?
Thanks.

British Airway's A380's; G-XLEK and G-XLEA appear on FRF24 currently in Manila.
G-XLEK arrived yesterday (23rd) from Madrid as BA9171
G-XLEA is currently showing on ground at MNL , Destination unspecified (N/A)