Alex Cruz stepping down
 

And being replaced by aerlingus boss forthwith

Musical chairs........
https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...h-airways-ceo/

5 years too late. The damage done to the brand is immeasurable. Starting with their (his) attitude to refunds on cancelled flights.

Hopefully not musical deckchairs...

£80 for a covid test at LHR isnt going to bring many passengers back.

Furthermore will the said test be recognised at the port of disembarkation? Or might you have to pay again?

It appears somebody has done a bit of homework on this given that it seems the tests are only targeted at travellers going to two specific destinations..

https://www.theguardian.com/business...taly-hong-kong

Completely pointless, particularly in the case of HKG ... once you get there, you get tested again anyway (for free), and get thrown in gaol for 14 days for your troubles despite testing clear. Nice.

Its a start though - at the moment going to, for example, Hong Kong is a really hassle given how hard it is to get tests at the moment and how long results take to get back. £80 to avoid all of that will be a big plus for many.

Is round two rapidly approaching? Cabin crew have been told that the flying program isn’t as hoped for, less flights in the system and an ever changing scope of regulations down-route (and at home) to contend with.
the cabin crew have been asked to volunteer for 5 months unpaid leave. Don’t know how many, but suddenly over-crewed in the cabin probably means similar elsewhere.

Will all the B777s be brought back or will older ones have an accelerated retirement?

More redundancies is almost certain (unfortunately)

So sorry to hear this. I am beginning to lose hope of the airline business returning to anything recognisable, 2024 or otherwise.

Same in engineering. Email received on Friday from the Director of Engineering warning of further compulsory redundancies. TU currently in negotiations to mitigate headcount reduction.

Best of luck everyone.

Apparently new cabin crew courses have started their training due to a recent shortage?

5 Months unpaid leave takes us through a very quiet winter to the start of the summer season. The thing protecting pilots at the moment is the fleet/seat mix and the long lead times and capacity bottlenecks for training vs the short term nature of the slot alleviations. Imagine a world where they find themselves unable to fly/keep the Heathrow slots.

Internal rumours about the summer 21 plan going through the system are quietly positive.

My personal view is some kind of flexible % cap for % pay is a likely future step for flight crew if reductions are necessary.

It is impossible for BA to keep all of the current slots. The company is haemorrhaging cash as it is without operating the necessary empty flights. BAA will not keep those slots available forever. They'll probably be kept in BA's name for another 6 months.

Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd say the same applies to most airlines who were routinely operating into/out of LHR.

It's not exactly a case of "everybody is operating out of LHR but BA" is it, and it's certainly not exactly a sellers markets for slots ATM.

BA currently have 51% of the slots at LHR. It's not a guess that there'll be a smash and grab on those as soon as they're not protected. It's not a guess that BA don't currently have the cash to protect those slots either.

I do use the word currently because I do expect the British government to protect BA's Longhaul.

See Wizz @ LGW. If the slots go, BA go. LHR will be protected at all costs!

So long as BA have the capability to get all their Aircraft operating again prior to the end of slot protection (which is impossible). If they do then as long as they have the means to operate cash flow negative flights for an indefinite period in order to protect slots (Environmentally absolutely unacceptable in this day and age), which they don't. BA will lose all the slots from LHR down to the point that they have the financial where with all to maintain whats remaining.