British Airways-2
 

Did I imagine it (hopefully) or read somewhere there were strikes by BA staff due in December?
After a Google search of "British Airways strikes" there is nothing I can see/find that has been released over the last month.
I live in France and due to fly back on 17th Dec to MAN via LHR...but at the moment there are very few flights between UK & France...I'm just hoping the situation can improve once both countries come out of their respective lockdowns next week.

It's Heathrow staff who are thinking of striking
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54966331

Not BA, but Heathrow. I don’t think there will be a lot of disruption, but what do I know.

sorry about the source:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/1322...nter-holidays/

Time to clear the warehouse.
BBC: British Airways' big sell-off: Champagne flutes and trolleys

Dan Dare

If it involves the Airport Fire Service, as mentioned in BBC report, they would not be able to operate passenger flights.

Fire sale


https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.b...iness-55043907

I'm sustained company logos weren't blanked out as condition of sale/scrapping.

Anyone heard that Accra and Islamabad to move from Heathrow to Gatwick ?
Possible also that New York, Las Vegas, San Jose in Costa Rica and Lima to be cut from Gatwick

Not yet sure if this is definite though...

ACC and ISB showing now ex LGW on BA.com

i also suspect that the new MAN LGW will be operated by a LHR crew that have nightstopped in MAN.

Didn't BA fly LGW - ISB before via MAN in the late 80's or early 90's

Yes, BA2119/2118 service which was an ex BCal 747-200 on LGW-MAN-ISB. The MAN stop was dropped and the route eventually moved to LHR before being suspended for security reasons. Both this and Accra at LGW are a throwback to years of old.

Thanks Albert. Now you've mentioned the flight number I remember it as BA119 and BA118 without the preceding "2". Maybe in later years BA used the "2" prefix to distinguish between LHR and LGW schedules.

What is the rationale behind this ? They can’t be short of slots at LHR ? Perhaps why the MAN 1 x daily too to link up with these flights. Seems a little odd but what do I know.....

...more likely slot sitting all those BA slots at LGW while IAG figures out how to use them longer term. The slot waiver will disappear at some point.

I guess - but presumably they will also need slot sitters at LHR. I guess ISB and ACC are not the most competed direct routes and people will travel to LGW.

Perhaps it’s easier to get third party takers for loaned slots at LHR than it is at LGW? Eastern, Loganair, Blue Air are getting the slots from somewhere.

Albert Hall

The lesson from loss making years of old was that when routes were moved to LGW, the front cabin stayed at LHR and flew with PIA et al. With PIA banned they are assuming that won't happen and Accra is a monopoly for now. Seems odd.

Accra one of the old BCal West Africa routes?

Very odd indeed given that Virgin now fly LHR-ISB. As previously suggested perhaps trying to protect some LGW slots. I wonder if we will see a step up on UK domestic next summer from LHR to protect slots if the rules do change from those currently in place due COVID-19?

I would have thought that for the front cabin travelling from the West End LHR is easier. For the most of the wider public, Thameslink makes LGW easier. Whereabouts in London does the expat Ghanaian community live?

GAXLN

A rather anti-social 0535 EDI-LHR has already been added for S21. Presumably for just that reason. (slot sitting)

Oh dear is that for freight or post maybe and sell main deck for passengers. Thats very very early departure

British Airways has permanently suspended a large number of long-haul routes in response to COVID-19.

https://londonairtravel.com/2020/12/...e-suspensions/

Decimated schedule, but as the article says, appears to be a lot of marginal routes especially in the Americas. Surprised about some of the Asian routes, however they can’t keep operating empty flights indefinitely with governments refusing to reopen their borders. Some of these are really heavy routes although they are clearly trailing the ME3.

Musket90

The 4 digit with a leading "2" format has long been the standard format for any BA Long Haul ( ? shorthaul) service into/out LGW.

It looks like all flights are operating as normal this morning with British Airways from Heathrow.

BA have said they are not canceling any flights that were due to operate and it's up to UK government to ban passengers.

Somewhat awkward if you already have a ticket as you will probably lose your money if you dont fly. On the other hand if you do decide to take up the offer you might well be stuck at your destination.

Netherlands has banned air travel from the UK from midnight. If Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus etc follows suit it could be an expensive Christmas for some.

BAs 2BN payout !
 

I haven’t seen this thread start yet ?
while other airlines struggle BA have been given 2BN state aid by the UK Government

From a few banks I believe; also understand Wizz U.K. and Easyjet were given funds much earlier on. BA like Virgin were I understand told to strip back and only go to the government as a last resort. That’s what they have done

Have you got a source for that? I've just been searching and can't find a single news item covering it.

Edit, Found this. https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...xport-finance/

So they haven't been given £2bn state aid, it's a commercial loan partially backed by govt guarantees
... :rolleyes:

BA Bailout
 

Not sure why my first post got deleted ?
But looks like BA got a very secretive handout to the tune of 2BN

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.g...uk-government/

It was moved to the BA thread in the "Airlines, Airports & Routes" forum - and it's not a handout.https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...xport-finance/

ah yes found it , thanks

I thought they had the money in reserve " in the bank" as it were

I do think it is significant that it is, in large part, underwritten by UK Export Finance (ie the government). It would appear to be an acknowledgment of the importance of BA to the national interest in terms of the connectivity provided which in many cases is not duplicated.

It will be interesting to see if other companies are extended the same courtesy in the coming months.

No - it's a standard process across all industrial sectors, if you meet the criteria, you are eligible.

"Underwritten by the Government" means that if the borrower (in this case BA) defaults, the Government will refund the lender. That's not state aid to the borrower.

It is state aid, if the Govt charges a lower fee for the guarantee, than a commercial (non-state) bank would charge.
It means that BA (or IAG) can borrow money from other lenders at a cheaper interest rate than they would achieve otherwise - a bank lender knows that whatever happens, the loan will still be repaid and thus the risk is significantly lower

If I have a good credit rating, a credit card issuer is more likely to offer me a credit card with a low interest rate; if I am a toerag with a string of CCJs to my name and a history of not paying the mortgage payment each month, I can expect a credit card issuer to take a somewhat different approach. The same principle applies to airlines - those which are very low risk are charged low interest rates on loans, while airlines perceived to be at greater risk have to pay high interest rates on loans. Right now, IAG is not a particularly good credit risk from a bank's perspective, particularly in the knowledge that 2020 was not a good year for them and they probably desperately need a loan to keep going

As usual, DJ6 is correct. There will be a beneficially lower interest rate.

But it still isn’t £2 Billion in state aid as alluded to above. It’s a loan. The state “aid” amounts to the government guarantee, the value of which will be the delta between the actual interest rate charged and what BA would have secured on a commercial loan. I would expect in actual fact that the government will make a profit on the loan over its lifetime.

This is very different to state aid to the likes of Lufthansa and AirFrance/KLM where the government ends up owning a chunk of the company.