QF LHR CC Base To Close...Rumour

[blackguard]

With the new CC EBA being approved it is now cheaper to employ Australians in Australia.The rumour doing the rounds suggests that an evaluation of the LHR base is underway.
There are a couple of LHR Base posters who will no doubt have something to say.
This is a rumour and this is a rumour network website.
The Howard government is gone.
The EBA was voted up by an overwhelming majority.
AO was closed(sadly)even though employees were told how fantastic things were.
Never say never.With QF anything is possible.

[packrat]

QF LHR BASE:Raison D`Etre

The establishment of the LHR base was as much about threat as it was about cost cutting.
The EBA has been voted up so the threat is no longer valid.
The exchange rate $ to pounds is weighted in Australias favour.The cost factor is also starting to lose validity.
The A380 will eventually service LHR and be crewed by QCCA making it even cheaper to have Oz based crew operate to London.
The LHR base`s days may be indeed be numbered.

[SkyScanner]

Even with the new EBA, LHR base cabin crew are still cheaper to operate. Furthermore, a reason for the starting the basing was to reduce the cost of the hotel and accommodation in London plus additional slip times in each port.

Sounds like wishful thinking to me...

[RedTBar]

SkyScanner,
Actually accom and allowances were only part of the deal.Not paying the required Australian Super contributions as well was a big part as well as more hours.

But,getting crew in OZ to work about 30% more for 30% less is a huge saving and Dixon himself said this would save around $41 million.

How much did the lhr base save last year?

It was around $20 million ? You work it out.

Maybe they will ask you guys to have a b scale.

[SkyScanner]

$41 mil on the london route alone or across the entire network?

[RedTBar]

$41 mil on the london route alone or across the entire network?

well,I imagine it is the current and anticipated work done by Australian crew.

So you can imagine how much extra they would save if they included the flying done by the lhr crews with the new eba.

[Keg]

Additional three 744 worth of crew in LHR is 45/day. They all stay two days at a time so there is an additional 90 crew in the hotel per day.

Accommodation. Last I heard, the crew rate was circa 84 quid at the millenium. Not sure what it is at the Forum so let's work on about 70. That is a cost of 6300 quid a day.....2,299,500 pound per annum.

Allowances. I'm not full bottle on the LHR rate but let's call it about 80 a day. That's another 7200 a day which is 2,628,000 per annum.

Five million pound per annum saved by having crew based in London. At current exchange rates that's still $10.7Million AUD. I don't think the savings made by cheap cabin crew in Australia will be able to offset that.

[raft rower]

If the LHR base was going to be closed, why would Qantas be establishing a CC training centre to eliminate the use of the BA facilities, and also have an A380 door trainer set up...just my humble opinion though.

[speedbirdhouse]

Given how things work at QF I'd suggest that that would almost prove the base was closing.........

[blackguard]

Keg's Figures

What did it cost to set the base up?
Managerial staff and wages:Administrative staff and wages;Rent/purchase of the building they work in?Office furniture,paperware,computers,council rates,insurance,maintenance of the building;Cost of training/interviewing.Cost of accommodation and allowances in BKK,SIN,HKG are highr due longer slips required when compared to Sydney Based Crew.What is sick leave like in LHR?Attrition rate and associated costs.
Lets be conservative.Lets say it costs 6 million pound a year to maintain the base.That reduces the savings to about four million.
Initial cost saving projections were 20 million pounds
They have missed their target by a long shot

[lowerlobe]

.....The smile on Darths face when he talked about the benefits of the new EBA.

As someone else said 30% more hours for 30% less pay....plus as the reduction of slip times in BKK,SIN and HKG.

The problem with this company has always been that the left hand does not know what the right hand is/has been doing.

Anything is possible and the one thing we know is there is no sentimentality as far as they are concerned.After Darth has left the new boy will want to make his mark and that could mean anything from closing LHR to opening another base.

[RedTBar]

keg,think about those 45 crew a day on the b scale pay and at more hours than the lhr base do.
then add to that the shorter slips in sin etc. because the crew from oz would have less like the fra trips north and south bound.not only that but the cost of running the base with their attrition rate ,management and training because we all know how expensive anything is in the uk.

Wait for the company to try and save more bucks by crew slipping in hotels near heathrow and you have some valid reasons to dump the base.if dixon asked the union if they would accept the slip near the airport in return for getting lhr back and I think they would say yes in the blink of an eye.
At the moment the base is dixons baby but we all know how much he likes to save a dollar or three.
this eba was just the start especially if he buys a stack of the 380's and the b scale crew for that are dedicated on type.
the interesting part is that dixon insisted on a dedicated crew to fly the 380 but he is not with the lhr based crew.to me that suggests that something is up with the base.

[stubby jumbo]

What goes around .........

If we use the same premise as Management used with the PER base, ie:

"No, I can gaurantee categorically that the long haul base will not close.......'how could it ?" ( Mark Hassell Sep '04)

The LHR base is GONE-SKEES

[peanut pusher]

It's on the cards!!!!!!!!!!!!

"It's the vibe" in LHR base.

Something is brewing but don't know what!!!

Got a feeling a new stratagy is being looked at.

[lowerlobe]

Knowing this company and how they operate they are just as likely to close the LHR base and open a new base in Manchester......

[blackguard]

Peanut Pusher Changes His Tune

Peanut Pusher you are about to be taught a lesson you probably wont like.
Never ever trust QF management...they have 4 faces and three hearts.
What is gospel today is tomorrows re evaluation

[speedbirdhouse]

Peanut Pusher,

coming from you ?????

The LHR base's number one apologist.

[blackguard]

The Offshore Bases in General

From the "vibe"the off shore bases have not lived up to expectations.The behaviour and customer service being offered by the AKL is causing concern.Particularly with a resurgent Air NZ.The BKK base has proved to be ineffcient with the number of paxing sectors required to build rosters.
The "spin"regarding the LHR base has never quite held water.
With this new EBA all the bases must surely be under scrutiny in regard to their viability.
It is very difficult to maintain control of a remote workforce.Hard enough if the workforce is based at home but extremely difficult if it is based off shore.
Off shore bases and Australian Airlines and the previous domestic EBA have been part of a strategy or threat to bring the LHCC community to heel.To a large degree it has worked.There have been casualities as the domestics are finding out.There are more casualities to follow.

[surfside6]

Waiting Game

Its a matter of increasing crew numbers under the EBA.
Once the crew community has been right sized there are going to be some interesting developments.
Once the compensation for the late delviery of the 787s has been settled with Boeing there may be another VR offered.
The next 12 months are going to be full of surprises....some of them unforeseen.

[bonez]

So how will the LON CC get on when/if the rumoured A380 LHR-LAX starts??

Interesting times!!

Interesting also that the LON CC get more than their share of favourable comments from the pax!