BA is taking three more Boeings 777 by early 2012, and the executives of the company are already proud to announce that the interior of the aircraft’s cabin has been completely modernised. The new in-flight entertainment system will also assure the customer satisfaction by providing 50% more choices on movies, television and music products, the representatives of BA say.

“It is the aircraft first to be fitted-out with our new ‘World Traveller’ and ‘World Traveller Plus’ cabins”, Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways, says.

The 777 delivered to the UK carrier will also feature BA’s ‘First’ and ‘Club World’ interiors.

British Airways therefore becomes the third European carrier to operate 700-300ER, after Turkish Airlines and Air France-KLM. The twin-engine jet airliner is powered by a couple of General Electric 90-115B turbofans, currently the most powerful used engines in use. The range of this lovely aircraft is 7,930 nautical miles (14,690 km).

And here’s a “making of” video of the G-STBA:

According to British Airways, it succeeded to manage the workers’ walk out well on the last Saturday and Sunday. It successfully reinstated more than 26 flights that would have axed due to the prevailing strike.

As said by the chief executive Willie Walsh in a video statement, BA will definitely keep its flights running same as before. According to him, many other have come forward to make sure the BA flights do run into any sort of problems due to the strike.

On the other hand, according to the Unite around 20 per cent of the crew walked out of the work on last Sunday. As informed by the Unite’s joint leader Tony Woodley, 5 cabin crew have broken ranks and 80 other worked have reported sick. He has also appealed the BA to come to a solution soon to stop the next strike which is supposed to be held on March 27, during busy Easter holiday period. He has already appealed to the BA chairman and other influencing people in the company. According to him, the company should consider passengers first and try to negotiate with the cabin crew.

According to BA, more than 97% of the cabin crew at Gatwick has returned to work and around 50% of the crew at Heathrow have turned up. But as reported by the Unite only 300 crew members out of 2200 have restored to work.

BA has promised to make 8 long-haul flights and 18 short-haul flights operate which were supposed to get cancelled due to the strike. BA is also using its non-striking staff to offer seats leased from other carriers like Ryanair.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said it is an impact of company’s capacity reduction and cost cuts and according to him it shows the impact of permanent changes across company policy. He also said the British Airways has adapted to the global recession. He further explained the reasons behind the 10.5 percent decrease in their operating costs are external spending cuts and capacity reductions.

On the other hand rival Air France has reported stabilized business, but according to experts its 2010 estimates are quite high. Finnair, the Finnish national carrier, has gone through loss in the last fourth quarter and announced that it is expecting future losses in this quarter also.

For BA the revenues fell down to 12.9% of GBP£6.14 billion. It has faced an operating loss of GBP£86 million for the first time during last year.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) this sector will face many challenges this year including new security issues.

BA reported lower cabin class sales and surcharges which in turn caused 8.8% fall in the third quarter. The airline also reported a decrease in its business class passengers by 2.1 percent and a total of 7% decrease in the month of January. BA has announced its merger agreement with Spain’s Iberia airline.

Whereas other low-cost competitors like Ryanair and easyJet have reported profits in their forecasts and said they are still able to make their market share from BA and Air France-KLM.

So passengers travelling in British Airways World Traveler cabins have to cut down their luggage. But this new policy is only applicable to economy class passengers on some specific routes. On the other hand flights flying to Ghana, Nigeria, Brazil and Kenya will be offering two-bag allowance only. The same rule goes for direct services in between US and India.

But all other long-haul passengers on other flights will be charged with an extra £40 for a second bag from October 7.

Sporting equipments will no longer be considered to be included in the free-baggage allowance according to this new policy. These equipments will be charged the standard fees along with other luggage.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Willie Walsh, the Chief Executive of British Airways is going to lower the weight on free-baggage allowance which 23 kg currently. After a reduction in its profits the last year British Airways has been continuously cutting down various allowances.

Even if the strike is off, the union has the option of another, future strike or to appeal against the court ruling.

“We are delighted for our customers that the threat of a Christmas strike has been lifted by the court. It is a decision that will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands of families in the UK and around the world,” said BA.

In recent days, we believe Unite has formed a better understanding of our position and of the ways in which we could move forward. It has also become very clear that our customers do not believe that old-style trade union militancy is relevant to our efforts to move British Airways back toward profitability,” they added.

Your flights might be go as scheduled, if the union accepts the court’s ruling. Let’s hope for the best!

Who’s unhappy will depend on whose flights end up being canceled. British Airways, being a business first, will of course be keeping their expensive international flights. Not because they understand the hardships of being far away from family and wanting to get home for that precious time of year when family reunites. No! Of course not! They make money off of those flights, so they’ll be the last to go.

If you do find yourself among the passengers whose flights have been cut, EU regulations state that BA will be responsible for either refunding your flight or booking your flight for a later date. But as we all know from holiday ads and TV specials, Christmas is once a year! What the heck is the point in rescheduling someone’s flight if they’re going to be late for Christmas? Of course you could cut your losses and reschedule with someone else, but then you’re left hoping BA cancels your flight and that they choose to give you a refund over rescheduling.

But enough about your troubles! This is about the poor BA worker, whom the people support 100%… right?

“Both my husband and I were made redundant in 2008 due to the recession,” said Gill Dunstan, a Telegraph reader. “My son and his family were due to fly home from the US for Christmas for the first time in two and half years. We were all looking forward to it so much, especially his 88 and 89 year old grandparents. It’s very hard to be sympathetic to the BA staff – do they not realise they’re lucky to have jobs and the impact of the cynical timing of their action?”

Good Lord! “…especially his 88 and 89 year old grandparents,” I swear that didn’t bring a tear to my eye… MOVING ON!

That’s just one story, though. We have to look at the general population to get a real feel of the support out there for these BA workers.

A poll this week of Telegraph readers found that only 12 over cent supported the walkout by cabin staff.

I believe those involved in the potential strike might want to rethink their strategy. Or at least hire someone in PR.

[via Telegraph]

Such merger led to a negative reaction of Virgin Atlantic noting that it would give a possibility for British Airways and Iberia to augment BA’s prevalence at Heathrow with 44% of take-off and landing slots this winter.

Last year British Airways and Iberia transported 62 million passengers, moreover, if combine their revenues then the figure will be about €15 billion.

The airlines consider the joint cooperation will help to get about €400 million that will be beneficial for companies’ shareholders, customers and even employees. Due to such merger a potent European airline will be created that will be able to rival with other airline companies.

According to Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, both airline companies would keep their own brands, nevertheless they will cooperate as a combined force.

It was estimated that about one third of savings will be received from joint selling, network and revenue management benefits. The companies chose the group CEO Walsh and a management team that will control the combined business.

First of all the aim of the group is to unite the two airlines that have the leading position in the UK and Spain and heighten their presence in the international long haul markets and at the same time to keep their own brands and current operations of each airline.

BA will have a possibility to receive up to 59 routes among which 13 will be in Latin America. As for Iberia, it will have up to 98 new destinations across the UK airline’s network

The companies will also provide better scheduling and connections, reasonable prices, more VIP lounges and improve flyer benefits.

Since the summer of 2008, 2,500 jobs have gone and more are likely to follow, according to Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive. Apart from this, management is also offering their employees the chance to work part-time or to take unpaid leaves.

“BA should see some benefit from lower fuel costs in 2010 but unfortunately the global recession has hit BA hard,” said Tony Shephard, an analyst at Charles Stanley. He added that a “17.7pc decline in premium traffic in April does not bode well for the start of the new financial year.”

As we’re writing this piece of news, Unite, a representation for 14,000 of BA’s cabin crew, are planning a strike in order to prevent the company from changing their salaries and working conditions. The airline announced at the beginning of last month that they’re planning some changes for their staff, including 1,000 voluntary redundancies.

British Airways has also been negotiating a partnership with American Airlines and the Spanish carrier Iberia, which could mean a stronger grasp for the tree on routes across the Atlantic.

According to Giovanni Bisignani, IATA chief executive, $80bn will vanish from the industry’s top line and it will take years in order to retrieve 15 per cent of lost revenue.

Airline companies try to merge but as a matter of fact they are confronted with normative barriers. For that reason the have decided to coordinate schedules and ticket prices on busy routes that can help them strengthen their businesses

One should say that during 30 years the airline industry has been unsteady. This fact can be explained by the following reason – the price of an airline seat has dropped estimably. In order airline companies do not file for bankruptcy, the new alliances were built up.

Two alliances such as Star and SkyTeam received antitrust immunity by the US Department of Transportation. At the end of this week the third alliance known as OneWorld will be given a preliminary ruling on its application for immunity.

It became known that the Star Alliance has 41 per cent of the market when at the same time SkyTeam has 29 per cent and OneWorld has 20 per cent.

Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, was sure that the alliance OneWorld would receive the permission despite the fact that it had 2 attempts to forge an alliance that was in 1996 and 2001 but were discarded as according to regulators the companies had to give up a big numbers of slots in order the carries could prosper.

The only way for BA, AA and Iberia to prove to Brussels that they have the financial benefits is that the planned alliance OneWorld will not depend on the expense of consumers.

There is no access to the Statement of Objections that is why Virgin Atlantic can not comment in detail on this very issue. But it hopes that the Commission will understand that actions of the alliance will have a devastating effect. The alliance will influence greatly on the competition and consumer interests of six routes from Heathrow to the U.S. It means that it will receive doubtless control on time-sensitive premium passengers.

Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic, said that they agreed with the European Commission concerning anti-competitive issues with British Airways and American Airlines’ offers. He also added the alliance is considered to be the option for two carriers that will help them to increase their power by setting prices and agreeing schedules at Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic believes that if the alliance exists, it will use its position to destroy competitive tendencies and increase prices. It is also considered that British Airways and American Airlines a will become the only company that take the most profitable routes between Heathrow and the U.S.

According to Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic will continue to expound the essence of their claims to the European Commission and prove that the alliance will cause an irreparable harm to healthy competition in the aviation market. He added that the alliance of British Airways and American Airlines is like “bad news for completion and for consumers”. That is why Virgin Atlantic appealed to the US Department of Transportation’s to consider the issue carefully, because it is necessary to protect the competition and interests of consumers.

Source: BBC