EasyJet to buy Go
I suspect that Easyjet are interested now given;
refs:
FT.com, UK-wire
- Ryanair's increased profits in the last year
- Ryanair's order for 150 737s, perhaps a signal of their confidence and intent
- The fact that both Go and Easy are looking to buy new aircraft - imagine the bargaining power of a joint order
- A harsh, ongoing price war between Easy and Go which could be curtailed by a acquisition/merger
refs:
FT.com, UK-wire
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And pray why JB007 why would you want to push BA out of the shorthaul market we are a large group of pilots as entitled to a job as you are.
BA has its problems but is attempting to overcome them and I am not aware of any plans to try and push GO or EASY out of the market. In fact thanks to BA investing in GO in the first place a lot of pilots have a job they might not otherwise have so think on that.
Please if you have nothing more constructive to say then I suggest you shut up, the aviation business seems to be increasingly filled by people like yourself who want nothing more than to see other companies fail. Like society as a whole aviation is slowly descending into the gutter and your comments only help to accelerate it.
BA has its problems but is attempting to overcome them and I am not aware of any plans to try and push GO or EASY out of the market. In fact thanks to BA investing in GO in the first place a lot of pilots have a job they might not otherwise have so think on that.
Please if you have nothing more constructive to say then I suggest you shut up, the aviation business seems to be increasingly filled by people like yourself who want nothing more than to see other companies fail. Like society as a whole aviation is slowly descending into the gutter and your comments only help to accelerate it.
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How about 'GoEasy ' for a new brand name!
Does anyone know who conducts type conversion training for GO?
Is it done in-house or outsourced?
Just speculating amongst myself whether my job will be affected!
Does anyone know who conducts type conversion training for GO?
Is it done in-house or outsourced?
Just speculating amongst myself whether my job will be affected!
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Given that the EZY/GO talks were probably going on for a good few weeks, I can't understand why Go announced an Airbus deal on the same day as this news came out. My initial reaction was with both airlines flying large 737 fleets, Airbus would lose out, but I am wondering whether, as part of the deal, EZY would also convert to the 737.
What is the actual position with regard to the Airbuses? I would still be surprised if they got them; surely the best solution would be a joint 737-700 (with maybe a few -800s as well) order from both, which would probably equal the FR order in size?
What is the actual position with regard to the Airbuses? I would still be surprised if they got them; surely the best solution would be a joint 737-700 (with maybe a few -800s as well) order from both, which would probably equal the FR order in size?
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This is a very interesting move. Quite apart from the benefits of route expansion (as there is relatively low overlap between the two carriers), they will be able to merge backoffice functions, and help reduce costs further.
(Incidentally, there is a misconception afoot amongst journalists, and thus the public, that Easy and its "low cost" colleagues actually means "low price". It does not; except if you book zillions of years in advance. As someone who travels on spur-of-the-moment/whim/lastminute, I have never found Easy/Go/Ryanair/Buzz/BE "low cost", and have invariably obtained much better and cheaper fares with BMI. And, before we get the usual flames, NO, I have nothing to do with them)
Anyway, the bbc biz correspondent on R4 was mentioning numbers in the region of £400M, so 3i will make a seriously tidy profit.
But more interesting was his assertion that Easy want to woo the biz traveller, while Ryanair will continue to pursue the holidaymaker. So, the question is, when can we expect to see 2 class cabins on Easy/Go? And will there be a move away from the bunfight/free-for-all/weakest-go-to-the-wall boarding policies currently employed?
Is this a classic case of consolidation and maturity; barrowboy turned respected high street trader, poacher turned gamekeeper, etc? If so, where is the new future of aviation? Who are going to be the "new kids on the block" stirring the pot in the way that Branson/Stelios have done in the past?
My bet is on the next gen "fly-me-now" "air taxi" operators, whose credo will be that you can fly directly (and at relativly low cost) from A to B, where-u-want, when-u-want without passing thru LHR/LGW/STN/LTN/etc with all the attendant hassle that implies (transport/checkin/security/missing aircraft/air traffic delays/destination holds/etc).
A very good rehearsal of the relevant arguments can be found at http://www.farnborough-aircraft.com/article.asp?ID=2 though other suitable (dreamy!) aircraft spring to mind, eg the Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 business jet (http://www.sj30jet.com/home.htm).
And, of course, this would reduce/remove the need for more "Big Iron" runways at LHR/etc. Which, counter to the usual opinion would be VERY good for aviation; after all, more planes means more pilots! (OK, there would be less need for "Big Iron", but bigger craft actually means less pilots!)
Anyway, just my $0.02
(Incidentally, there is a misconception afoot amongst journalists, and thus the public, that Easy and its "low cost" colleagues actually means "low price". It does not; except if you book zillions of years in advance. As someone who travels on spur-of-the-moment/whim/lastminute, I have never found Easy/Go/Ryanair/Buzz/BE "low cost", and have invariably obtained much better and cheaper fares with BMI. And, before we get the usual flames, NO, I have nothing to do with them)
Anyway, the bbc biz correspondent on R4 was mentioning numbers in the region of £400M, so 3i will make a seriously tidy profit.
But more interesting was his assertion that Easy want to woo the biz traveller, while Ryanair will continue to pursue the holidaymaker. So, the question is, when can we expect to see 2 class cabins on Easy/Go? And will there be a move away from the bunfight/free-for-all/weakest-go-to-the-wall boarding policies currently employed?
Is this a classic case of consolidation and maturity; barrowboy turned respected high street trader, poacher turned gamekeeper, etc? If so, where is the new future of aviation? Who are going to be the "new kids on the block" stirring the pot in the way that Branson/Stelios have done in the past?
My bet is on the next gen "fly-me-now" "air taxi" operators, whose credo will be that you can fly directly (and at relativly low cost) from A to B, where-u-want, when-u-want without passing thru LHR/LGW/STN/LTN/etc with all the attendant hassle that implies (transport/checkin/security/missing aircraft/air traffic delays/destination holds/etc).
A very good rehearsal of the relevant arguments can be found at http://www.farnborough-aircraft.com/article.asp?ID=2 though other suitable (dreamy!) aircraft spring to mind, eg the Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 business jet (http://www.sj30jet.com/home.htm).
And, of course, this would reduce/remove the need for more "Big Iron" runways at LHR/etc. Which, counter to the usual opinion would be VERY good for aviation; after all, more planes means more pilots! (OK, there would be less need for "Big Iron", but bigger craft actually means less pilots!)
Anyway, just my $0.02
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Sounds like a quick and simple way for EasyJet to expand into the areas of Europe which Go has conquered eg Spain.
I do hope however that it doesn't go ahead as I am sure the only ones to suffer again will be the pax. Someone a few posts ago mentioned that 3i were only in it for a quick buck or £300m but my experience with low-cost carriers is that they are all only in it for the money.
I do hope however that it doesn't go ahead as I am sure the only ones to suffer again will be the pax. Someone a few posts ago mentioned that 3i were only in it for a quick buck or £300m but my experience with low-cost carriers is that they are all only in it for the money.
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BBC News at 10 said an announcement would be made on Wednesday. Price is reported to be around 400 Million British Pounds.
Personally, I am not too happy with it. Why buy Go now? They could have been bought just last year for a quater of the price. That said, it does have its benefits for easyJet as mentioned before.
Personally, I am not too happy with it. Why buy Go now? They could have been bought just last year for a quater of the price. That said, it does have its benefits for easyJet as mentioned before.
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Has Michael O'Leary reacted to this news yet? Some serious competition now for Ryanair if all this is true. What will this do to prices? Hope it all works out better for the consumer than the BA taking over of CFE, British Regional, Brymon etc. Huge economies of scale to be had now if Easygo takes off and a combination of both new Boeing and Airbus aircraft should work out fine in the long run. Hope everyone gets to keep their job too.
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Has Michael O'Leary reacted to this news yet?
Ryanair is unconcerned by the threat of a combined Easyjet and Go operation, following today's announcement they are in talks.
Ryanair's chief financial officer Michael Cawley said both airlines still had significantly higher cost bases than Ryanair, and were unlikely to compete with Ryanair head-to-head; instead focusing on travelling to primary airports and taking passengers off traditional carriers.
In a statement today Easyjet confirmed the negotiations to buy Go were in advanced stage, and said it was making the announcement because it feared the talks had been leaked.
Go is currently owned by its management and venture capital company 3i, who bought the company off British Airways nearly two years ago.
In December Go pulled out of a route to Edinburgh it launched out of Dublin, after just two months, citing 'extreme levels' of competition from Ryanair.
EasyJet started in 1995 and now flies to 45 destinations using 31 aircraft. Its main base is Luton airport and the carrier also flies from Gatwick and Liverpool. Its overseas airport hubs are at Amsterdam and Geneva.
The carrier employs 1,900 staff and posted profits of £40.1m sterling for the year ending September 2001 on turnover of £356m.
Go started as a British Airways subsidiary in May 1998 under the leadership of American Barbara Cassani. Based at Stansted airport, the airline operates a 22-strong fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft to 38 destinations. Independent from BA since last year, Go has 900 employees and also operates from Bristol and East Midlands airports.
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PPRuNe Secret Agent!
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Amazon Man, - your not a management pilot are you ?
Mmmm, people like me who want to see companies fail !!! Rather a sweeping statement considering we've never met - good lord, heaven forbid I have an opinion !!!!
It has nothing to do with Pilots losing jobs or whos entitled to what....chill-out man!!!!
Welcome to the 21st Century Airline business in the Uk!!!
Do you really think Babs and Stellios are thinking "Ok, so we have the monopoly on the Uk Euro short haul market, oh dear, but what about all those other short haul pilots in the Uk" !!!!
Isn't BA's core business long haul ? And GO was started by BA in direct competition to EZY due to the amount of business it was taking from them, just like GO and babyBMI !!!
Wake up and smell the coffee !
Mmmm, people like me who want to see companies fail !!! Rather a sweeping statement considering we've never met - good lord, heaven forbid I have an opinion !!!!
It has nothing to do with Pilots losing jobs or whos entitled to what....chill-out man!!!!
Welcome to the 21st Century Airline business in the Uk!!!
Do you really think Babs and Stellios are thinking "Ok, so we have the monopoly on the Uk Euro short haul market, oh dear, but what about all those other short haul pilots in the Uk" !!!!
Isn't BA's core business long haul ? And GO was started by BA in direct competition to EZY due to the amount of business it was taking from them, just like GO and babyBMI !!!
Wake up and smell the coffee !
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I‘ll never know how the press manage to get to the proposed sale figure of £400m – indeed I seem to recall that they bandied that figure about during the original sale by BA, whereas in the end the figure was closer to £100m – and given that that sale was only about one year ago, to sell it now for four times that figure would be a truly astounding investment !
It would be fair to say that easyJet have out-grown Luton (indeed they did that years ago), and as such they’re migrating heavily to south of the Thames at LGW, and with this buyout news in the offing they’ll no doubt be looking to move across to STN – where previously such a move was made almost impossible by the three STN incumbent low cost operators RyanAir, Go and Buzz.
It might also be fair to say that 3i might have seemingly got the jitters about their aviation portfolio – e.g. post 911, and / or is Go really delivering the promised returns ?! – so as such they might well indeed be looking for an ‘early out’ and accordingly settle for a modest return on their investment ( say, a sale of £150m ? ) which would still yield a pretty healthy and facing saving return over the investment period.
Logistically there is some degree of commonality in the eJ & Go operations (aircraft types, company systems, etc), and as such a absorption of much of it would be fairly (?) straightforward.
However I would hazard a guess that, should this sale complete, any proposals for Go to change fleets to Airbus might get the chop – the point being that, as a guess, they are (were) contemplating doing this to provide some sort of market ‘differentiation’ against the other low cost products, i.e. the Airbus has slightly more pax appeal courtesy of a wider cabin, etc, plus the flexibility provided by being able to mix-and-match the various aircraft capacities (A319/320/321) to your route demand for seats, with added flexibility of commonality of crew training / type-rating; Of course one can only imagine the deal being offered to do as such must be very appealing, because during the migration period running two fleet types (Airbus and Boeing) with all the crewing problems, etc, is a very expensive proposition (especially so when you already have 22 B737’s).
There again, maybe there are some economies of scale to be had by consolidating the operations and perhaps the big plan is to move the whole bloomin’ lot (Go and eJ) across to Airbus narrow bodies ( now there’s a rumour ! )
W.r.t. the Go staff – there will almost certainly be some headcount reductions due to the economies of scale and rationalisation of routes and capacity (uhm, especially so if, say, they use A321 on the popular sunshine routes).
Of course one can be pretty sure that the directors of Go will come out of it smelling of roses, e.g. Babs will indeed walk away with her £4m - and she was after all only intending to stay for two years after the sale by BA - with the other Go directors getting their £2m each.
As for the other staff, well I’d be amazed if the much muted ‘one years salary’ bonuses ever materialise – but like much at Go, it’s always been case of “Jam Tomorrow !”
It would be fair to say that easyJet have out-grown Luton (indeed they did that years ago), and as such they’re migrating heavily to south of the Thames at LGW, and with this buyout news in the offing they’ll no doubt be looking to move across to STN – where previously such a move was made almost impossible by the three STN incumbent low cost operators RyanAir, Go and Buzz.
It might also be fair to say that 3i might have seemingly got the jitters about their aviation portfolio – e.g. post 911, and / or is Go really delivering the promised returns ?! – so as such they might well indeed be looking for an ‘early out’ and accordingly settle for a modest return on their investment ( say, a sale of £150m ? ) which would still yield a pretty healthy and facing saving return over the investment period.
Logistically there is some degree of commonality in the eJ & Go operations (aircraft types, company systems, etc), and as such a absorption of much of it would be fairly (?) straightforward.
However I would hazard a guess that, should this sale complete, any proposals for Go to change fleets to Airbus might get the chop – the point being that, as a guess, they are (were) contemplating doing this to provide some sort of market ‘differentiation’ against the other low cost products, i.e. the Airbus has slightly more pax appeal courtesy of a wider cabin, etc, plus the flexibility provided by being able to mix-and-match the various aircraft capacities (A319/320/321) to your route demand for seats, with added flexibility of commonality of crew training / type-rating; Of course one can only imagine the deal being offered to do as such must be very appealing, because during the migration period running two fleet types (Airbus and Boeing) with all the crewing problems, etc, is a very expensive proposition (especially so when you already have 22 B737’s).
There again, maybe there are some economies of scale to be had by consolidating the operations and perhaps the big plan is to move the whole bloomin’ lot (Go and eJ) across to Airbus narrow bodies ( now there’s a rumour ! )
W.r.t. the Go staff – there will almost certainly be some headcount reductions due to the economies of scale and rationalisation of routes and capacity (uhm, especially so if, say, they use A321 on the popular sunshine routes).
Of course one can be pretty sure that the directors of Go will come out of it smelling of roses, e.g. Babs will indeed walk away with her £4m - and she was after all only intending to stay for two years after the sale by BA - with the other Go directors getting their £2m each.
As for the other staff, well I’d be amazed if the much muted ‘one years salary’ bonuses ever materialise – but like much at Go, it’s always been case of “Jam Tomorrow !”
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Whats it going to be called ?
As EZY is negotiating to buy GO I expect it will be called EASYJET - Stelios has no need and no I can't see him wanting to change the name. As for who will be CEO...............
Amazon man - a bit wet behind the ears I think. You said "BA have no plans to push EZY out of the market" - that because BA are concentrating on trying to save themselves - they are about a million miles away from even being in a position to think about pushing EZY out.
Assuming you were born more than 10 years ago you might have heard of BA's antics with regard to Laker, Air Europe, Virgin, Dan Air etc, so although it is nothing personal between the pilots involved, many people outside BA have no love for them.
As EZY is negotiating to buy GO I expect it will be called EASYJET - Stelios has no need and no I can't see him wanting to change the name. As for who will be CEO...............
Amazon man - a bit wet behind the ears I think. You said "BA have no plans to push EZY out of the market" - that because BA are concentrating on trying to save themselves - they are about a million miles away from even being in a position to think about pushing EZY out.
Assuming you were born more than 10 years ago you might have heard of BA's antics with regard to Laker, Air Europe, Virgin, Dan Air etc, so although it is nothing personal between the pilots involved, many people outside BA have no love for them.
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Consolidation throughout the industry was never going to be a surprise, but this merger seems to make sense and one might say ‘yep, why not?’. The real gain for Easy here is the many qualified 737 trainers who are in short supply at the moment. Many retired Nigels moved over to Go for the evening of their careers, trainers and all (including Figment for a while). I don’t buy for one moment the wholesale re-equipping with Airbus either, it simply doesn’t make sense to spend millions reshaping your operation if you’ve already gone down the Boeing route. It increases your transitional costs disproportionately in relation to the supposed savings. Why else would BA be doing it.
For BA to have made a hash of Go is no surprise either. The concept, as we know was right, but the implementation and the management was not. To have two diametrically opposed products competing on the same routes was stupid. Why charge £500 club to Milan Linate from Heathrow and also £30 to the same airport from Stansted. It was flawed fundamentally. What was required was clear blue water between the two products. Offering the Full Monty from Heathrow to Milan Linate, and the cheap and cheerful on Stansted to Bergamo would have contrasted the two products and delineated the choice. There are two markets, two concepts. You don’t go to the Ritz Hotel and ask for a Travelodge room.
One thing that I will take issue with though is the concept of crew costs. Nigels get bad press here and elsewhere, not the least from our own management. But I had from the horse’s mouth from someone who was in a position to know, that if Go had to operate out of LHR on the same routes, then they would show a similar cost base. The idea that Nigels are expensive is a fallacy, and one that we have poorly promoted. BA costs are purely and simply down to the headcount of numpties.
Nice to hear about a success in the airline industry, anything that secures and increases pilot jobs is a good thing. Good Luck to all.
For BA to have made a hash of Go is no surprise either. The concept, as we know was right, but the implementation and the management was not. To have two diametrically opposed products competing on the same routes was stupid. Why charge £500 club to Milan Linate from Heathrow and also £30 to the same airport from Stansted. It was flawed fundamentally. What was required was clear blue water between the two products. Offering the Full Monty from Heathrow to Milan Linate, and the cheap and cheerful on Stansted to Bergamo would have contrasted the two products and delineated the choice. There are two markets, two concepts. You don’t go to the Ritz Hotel and ask for a Travelodge room.
One thing that I will take issue with though is the concept of crew costs. Nigels get bad press here and elsewhere, not the least from our own management. But I had from the horse’s mouth from someone who was in a position to know, that if Go had to operate out of LHR on the same routes, then they would show a similar cost base. The idea that Nigels are expensive is a fallacy, and one that we have poorly promoted. BA costs are purely and simply down to the headcount of numpties.
Nice to hear about a success in the airline industry, anything that secures and increases pilot jobs is a good thing. Good Luck to all.
