easyJet buys GB Airways
 

Announced today at 07:00.

BA? :eek::eek:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7061246.stm

http://www.hemscott.com/news/latest-...52158083006813

from the bbc web site


Easyjet agrees to buy GB Airways

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...yjet203afp.jpg
Budget airline Easyjet has agreed to buy UK carrier GB Airways for £103.5m.
Gatwick-based GB Airways currently serves routes to Southern Europe and North Africa under a franchise agreement with British Airways.
GB also operates services out of Manchester and Heathrow airports, although the purchase by Easyjet does not include the Heathrow slots.
Easyjet said the deal was consistent with its expansion strategy and would strengthen its position at Gatwick.

Also ends franchise with Loganair

"We will fulfil our outstanding obligation as a franchise partner to British Airways and then look forward to a smooth operational merger with Easyjet," Mr Hatton said.

Who's he kidding? As an ex Go employee you GB guys and Girls have my deepest genuine sympathy.

It's been known all along that JG doesn't give a hoot about loyalty or anything and has now sold his staff down the river whilst lining his own pockets all along with Gold.

Can't say I'm sorry to see the back of BA but good riddance to the greedy bunch from Sotogrande. :D

Excuse my ignorance, but I'm trying to figure out whether usually this (on past experiences) would mean Easyjet have more pilot vacancies on the horizon as they let GB Airways pilots off or if Easyjet have less pilot vacancies on the horizon as they take GB Airways guys and gals on?

I appreciate its a big unknown but any educated guesses!? Thanks

Sepi, my educated guess is as such:

1) The GB guys say no thank you to the low cost model (as happened when flybe took over BA Connect) and they walk, hence creating a building-at-the-back-of-the-garden load of jobs

OR

2) Everyone stays put, there are some route consolidations and thus no new positions are needed


My money's on 1.

My money is on 2.

a) People want to keep the base they are at.

b) GB employees have lived with uncertainty and now they will be part of the UK's 2nd biggest airline with healthy profits.

I think employees in both companies will be delighted. There were no rumours about this so there will be a lot of raised eyebrows today.

PS

GB Airways
 

No mention anywhere of plans for Manchester....

Any thoughts???

Is it just me or does £103.5m for a (presumably) reasonably successful operation, 15 A320/321s, staff etc etc, not to mention the LGW slots, seem like a suspiciously good deal? Or is there more to this than meets the eye? :suspect:

er82,
I would not be so hasty. Most people are flying at something around 800 hours and the 5/4/5/3 whilst not everyones cup of tea has been a big selling point in recruitment. What ever you do good luck!

NorthCountryBoy - from reading the Q&A on the BA Website (sorry, link not to hand) ... Manchester is being treated like the Gatwick ops and being taken over as well, and more info will follow once the deal is completed.

Jordan

Thanks Jordan.

Very little mention of Manchester on the Easy intranet, the focus seems to be LGW.

I would think that this should be refered to the Competition Commission (just like the purchase of CityFlyer by BA was) due to LGW slot position, reduction of choice for consumers, etc

Very early days but from what I've been told by our Northern Balpa chap they will be keeping Manchester open, and you will have the option of moving to Liverpool if you want.

Could be very interesting for MAN as Easy have wanted in for a while but not been able to get the slots they want, so this could be a back door way in
Then they could buy Baby and there you go you have a complete coverage of the UK and certainly give FR are good run

Ian

I have just one rather obvious question. Where are they going to go?

Do you think so Willy? :confused:

I don't know much about LGW, but are there other operators that go to all the same destinations as GB?

GB Guys, and Girls

I can understand and sympathise with your position, never great being treated like mushrooms.
But as some have already alluded to, uncertainty ends here and the "rumours" about working for EZY are often unfounded. I'm not a management stooge, I've worked elsewhere for charter, scheduled and a national carrier. EZY suits me and it is the best job I have had. Give it a chance, stable rosters, nice new Airbus, I can plan a life 18 months in advance with 5/3/5/4 and my annual accumulator is about 700h, had been at 800h once and has never been at 900h.
I hope it all goes well for you, whatever you decide to do.

Some routes yes, some routes no. As a regular GB pax in Club to AGP I will be really sad to see that service disappear although I suppose BA could always operate the route themselves. I think the bigger issue is slots. GB and Easy combined will have a significant portion of the LGW slots. I don't know the exact figure but if 'Flightrider' is around he could tell us.

Staff Memo at BA
 

Below is the notice sent to all BA staff this morning.

Franchise Announcement

British Airways is to end its franchise agreements with both GB Airways and Loganair.

From March 2008 BA plans to start services on some of the routes operated under the GB Airways franchise, while British Airways’ code will be placed on Loganair flights when that franchise ends on October 25, 2008.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said: “UK franchises have outlived their purpose for British Airways. easyJet has made an offer to buy GB Airways and this has enabled us to end the franchise agreement two years early. We have an option to buy GB Airways but we rejected it. We have a significant base at Gatwick and our focus will be on maintaining and developing it as an integral part of our business.

“Regrettably the loss of ground handling activity for GB Airways at Gatwick will mean a reduction in staff numbers. We want to achieve these reductions using voluntary means and will be discussing this will the trade unions.”

There will be a transition period until March 29, 2008 during which GB Airways will continue to operate as BA’s franchise partner on their existing network to destinations in Europe and North Africa.

British Airways is committed to ensuring a smooth transition for passengers during this period. Customers will be able to rebook onto easyJet or get a refund.

Easy buys GB airways
 

Loganair will become a Flybe franchise and continue their BA codeshare under the Flybe agreement in Oct 2008.

If EZY buy BMIBaby then that really would be the most amazing network coverage ever achieved by any airline in the UK.

May I be the first on this thread to welcome all GB employees to the company. The future really is bright.

PS

I think this is amazing news!

I joined Easyjet from another BA Franchise, and I can tell you... EASYJET is 10x the airline!

Welcome GB Airways.... You will Love it!!

During the GO days , life at easyJet was different.

How many years ago (aGO) was that anyway.

who do you work for ,no more nite flights?
im sure from what you say that you fly 10 days a month and 500 hrs a year with plenty of cash in your pocket as well, and upgrade in 3 years.

beat it man, if you have to write, write something useful for the rest of us. give an option, and say where you would go for example.

So what is going to happen to the GB flights at MAN and LHR?

Looks like 5 GB slot pairs up for grabs at LHR which would fit in with the route swaps mentioned by WW.

5150, I have to agree with you. Some people just cannot look past the low-cost tag and develop a mature attitude.

I jumped ship from that other unloved part of the BA brand (BA Connect) being treated like second class citizens, and although I admit to still being in the 'honeymoon' period, I have no regrets and wish I'd made the move sooner.

I love being able to actually plan my life with the 5/3/5/4 roster pattern. Yes, the days can be relatively long, but roster stability seems pretty good so far.

RM

ETOPS. The LHR slots are surely "owned" by GB Airways. They will presumably sell them or lease them to the highest bidder. There are plenty of people wanting slots at LHR so presumably the owners of GB will get a high price for these too.

Easy buys GB
 

found this on the GB Airways site, and gives some indication as to what will become of the slots at LHR

GB Airways’ Heathrow slots will be exchanged under three separate agreements, the consideration for which will be passed on to the Bland Group (net of costs) on receipt. Completion is subject to the usual conditions, including approval from the relevant regulatory authorities. The transaction is expected to complete no later than 31st January 2008.

Hope that helps

I too jumped ship just under a year ago, and have no regrets at all. You cannot put a price on the fixed roster and my family have benefited it from this greatly. Some of the days are long, but heck, name an airline where you don’t work hard. We get good benefits; just the other day we were all given free shares worth around 2 weeks wages. I'm in my 30's and plan to see out the rest of my flying career at easy.

Oh yeh the cabin crew don’t wear those awful uniforms anymore, in fact are dressed to kill now !

Good move easy and I’m sure the vast majority of GB staff will do better under this company !

If orange does not appeal to you you can always apply to BA.You will find the days longer not to mention overnights. Its time to learn to speak without the golf ball in your mouth.:confused:

As an ex GOer I can only add my sincerest commiserations to the victims of this mugging. I just hope that it goes better and with more consideration than the last one did. (fat chance). Be prepared to see everything you've worked for over the years destroyed and trashed as worthless by the "not invented here" orange brigade who will be "rolling out" their "inspirational initiatives" to help you "engage" in the "orange culture" (Jesus - what a misuse of that word) and try to sell you the concept of a scuzzy backstreet takeaway image being somehow better than something with a bit of quality, drowning you in moronic badly written orange propaganda and talking down to you (in meaningless management w@nkspeak) in the patronising way of a sociologist to a naughty five year old.
I hope it won't be like this, I really do, but don't hold your breath.

Firstly nomorenightflights.....from what your name suggests you obviously dont like night flights...Easyjet rarely fly through the night, if at all over the winter! So how is it a bad place? think what your saying is a load of :mad:
For a start, you're talking about the dodgy orange cabin crew uniform....take it you haven't seen the new one then! You say you stayed for the transition period then left....how can you expect any transition like that to flow completely smoothly? All I can say is that I have flown with quite a few ex Go people and they seem to be enjoying life here.

Anyway guys at GB, just for my 2 pence worth... easy has definately got better over the last couple of years...the fixed roster is great and crewing are quite happy to try to get you on a similar roster to your mates if you ask, if at all possible...same days off with mates = £30 return staff travel for a couple nights on the lash somewhere in europe!:}

The leave system is great...on 3 occasions I have logged online and dates I have wanted have been red meaning not available...however you call the leave office and everytime they have managed to move things around so I got the exact days I wanted...so they are more than helpful.

This 900hr low cost vision is just a number that people associate with low cost!!! Put it this way, this month I am working 60 hrs, last month I did 75 and the month before I did 55. And I have not had a change to my roster for nearly 6 months! So its not a bad place to be at all! Everyone is great to work with, both flight deck and crew, and 99% of people I fly with are happy at easyjet...me personally, I have no children/not married etc and still enjoy it....for the guys that do have children I can think of no better place to be...you are home much more of the time being on the fixed pattern. And the good news...because we're overcrewed at moment you rarely get called on standby days too :ok:

To put it in perspective, you are going to be flying new aircraft, to a variety of new destinatins, quick command for FO's, (The company hopes to be double its current size in 5 years so outlook is good!). Easyjet has a strong position in the industry and the way things are going its a pretty secure job. No brainer really!

The company has changed massively since the days of the GO transition!

From a personal point of view I think this is a fantastic move for EasyJet!

For anyone worried about becoming part of easyjet, dont believe everything that people say about the airline...Most of these comments were probably valid 2 years ago. A lot of the opinions already posted in this thread are not current problems. It is a different airline now. Pay, rosters,award winning share schemes good staff travel ( better now ) etc etc. Cabin Crew new uniforms, all small things but collectively trying to improve the image of Easy.
Sure there are annoying things but dont tell me its all rosy anywhere else. EasyJet may not suit some of you but before you write it off as just another loco do yourself a favour and do your homework...You may just be on to a good thing!

As of this winter 6 sector days are no longer an issue...Thank God.

All in all I find it an extremely good and happy place to work. Just my two pence worth, but its not all that bad!:ok: