British Airways

BA have sadly just made 12,000 of their 44.000 staff , not good at all .

I agree it is a British Flagship, but people are asking the British Govt to step in and help, the problem like most of the biggest British businesses & companies they are virtually not really British anymore.

BA is 40% owned by a Spanish company, that shocked me when I heard that this morning.

'British Airways needs government help'

Why is British Airways not receiving help from the UK government like other flag carriers? - a question the pilots’ union Balpa is asking.

BA is set to cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 42,000-strong workforce due to a collapse in business because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline's parent company IAG, which also owns Spanish airline Iberia and Ireland's Aer Lingus, said it would take several years for air travel to return to pre-virus levels.

“Why is the French government bailing out Air France, why is the German government bailing out Lufthansa, why is IAG itself not doing anything with other flag carrier airlines, only BA?” Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Why in the UK is our aviation industry getting hammered? Other countries are supporting theirs.

“I’d like the chancellor to keep his promise of a bespoke package to help the aviation industry. We haven’t seen it yet.”

It seems BA are not going to ask for state aid. I wonder is that a decision that will force the government into also not considering giving aid to Virgin Atlantic, thus putting VA in the very possible situation of going under, as Delta have stated they will not put any money into the VA/Delta operation. Irrespective of peoples dislike of Richard Branson, it would not lead to good competition. Thus leaving BA the only long haul carrier in GB. We all know where that would lead. Maybe they have an eye on environmental concerns, leading to less and more expensive flights in the future.

BA have sadly just made 12,000 of their 44.000 staff , not good at all .

I agree it is a British Flagship, but people are asking the British Govt to step in and help, the problem like most of the biggest British businesses & companies they are virtually not really British anymore.

BA is 40% owned by a Spanish company, that shocked me when I heard that this morning.

Annis Ba is part of the IAG group which includes

British Airways.
Iberia.
Aer Lingus & Aer Lingus Regional (acquired in Aug-2015)
Sun Air of Scandinavia (franchise, since Aug-1996)
Iberia Regional (Air Nostrum) (franchise, since May-1997)
BA CityFlyer (100%, since Mar-2007)
Iberia Express (100%, since Mar-2012)

All owned by IAG of which state owned Qatar Airways owns 25% along with one of the largest shareholders iberia. It is not really British anymore since BA amalgamated with Iberia. It is no wonder BA is not asking for a handout as they know they would not get one. Qatar needs to put their hand in their very big rich oil pockets, instead of letting Ba lay off 12,000 employees.

BA have sadly just made 12,000 of their 44.000 staff , not good at all .

I agree it is a British Flagship, but people are asking the British Govt to step in and help, the problem like most of the biggest British businesses & companies they are virtually not really British anymore.

BA is 40% owned by a Spanish company, that shocked me when I heard that this morning.

Annis Ba is part of the IAG group which includes

British Airways.
Iberia.
Aer Lingus & Aer Lingus Regional (acquired in Aug-2015)
Sun Air of Scandinavia (franchise, since Aug-1996)
Iberia Regional (Air Nostrum) (franchise, since May-1997)
BA CityFlyer (100%, since Mar-2007)
Iberia Express (100%, since Mar-2012)

All owned by IAG of which state owned Qatar Airways owns 25% along with one of the largest shareholders iberia. It is not really British anymore since BA amalgamated with Iberia. It is no wonder BA is not asking for a handout as they know they would not get one. Qatar needs to put their hand in their very big rich oil pockets, instead of letting Ba lay off 12,000 employees.

Roger , you’ve cleared it all up and answered it thank you

Labour this morning told the Govt they should help them.

It seems BA are not going to ask for state aid. I wonder is that a decision that will force the government into also not considering giving aid to Virgin Atlantic, thus putting VA in the very possible situation of going under, as Delta have stated they will not put any money into the VA/Delta operation. Irrespective of peoples dislike of Richard Branson, it would not lead to good competition. Thus leaving BA the only long haul carrier in GB. We all know where that would lead. Maybe they have an eye on environmental concerns, leading to less and more expensive flights in the future.

Thanks IGovernor / Roger totally made me realise why they will get zero and will not ask for anything

Its going to take a few years to get aviation to where we were pre covid 19. We won't need as many planes or crew and then all the secondary services.

We have some big questions to answer in term of travelling. Many on here want Heathrow locked down, then say we should help Virgin or BA. Its difficult. I want nobody to lose their job, but we need to accept this virus is a game changer. We didn't ask for it but need to accept it is here and adjustments need to be made and flying may be one of them until we have a vaccine.

Before this nightmare happened all the talk was about us flying less as to try safe guard the environment for our children's generation.

Never a fan of nationalised industries, and I think it was not allowed under previous EU rules.

BUT - if something is being touted as 'british' and being the flag bearer of UK airline industry etc - then it needs to be British owned, pay British taxes etc etc. If it is in fact not that British at all - then let it go bust , then the UK govt can buy it for 1£. Then for a couple of years keep it state owned but not state run, once it's back on it's feet, then either sell it off - or keep it as a not for profit airline ?

IAG are a well run company and say they don't need government money.

This cull will be about getting their future cost structure down. There are a lot of long serving BA employees on a very good whack, much better than the newer staff. I wonder how many of them will volunteer to take early retirement or a redundancy. Then when the upturn takes place hire new staff on lower T & C's.

You wouldn't want to restructure during boom years in case of strikes or work to rules and your competitors may potentially benefit, but now would be perfect.

Devils advocate here. BA have made a cold objective decision.Air travel will be reduced significantly, small carriers will fail even some large carriers will follow suit.Lufthansa have asked for a 8 million Euro government bailout!!!! We as consumers have to get used to far more expensive travel. The "here we go" weekend away for Johnny Normal have gone.BA have basically abandoned Gatwick and will consolidate their operations to suit the new economic climate. From a business perspective they are ahead of the game. The extra runway at Heathrow is toast. Great news four our home based tourism a nightmare for Spain and Greece. It is estimated that 65% of Greek Hotels will go bust, one in five Greeks rely on tourism as an occupation. These are horrendous times for the travel industry.

BREAKING
Virgin Atlantic to cut 3,000 UK jobs

Virgin Atlantic is to cut 3,000 jobs in the UK and stop its operations at London Gatwick Airport as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

The airline, which employs around 10,000 people, suspended its Gatwick services during the pandemic and says they will not restart.

Virgin Atlantic is in the process of applying for emergency loans from the UK government.

The company says it also plans to reduce the size of its fleet of aircraft from 45 to 35 by the summer of 2022.

The company says it plans to restore about 60% of its pre-pandemic flying capacity by the end of 2020.

BA have sadly just made 12,000 of their 44.000 staff , not good at all .

I agree it is a British Flagship, but people are asking the British Govt to step in and help, the problem like most of the biggest British businesses & companies they are virtually not really British anymore.

BA is 40% owned by a Spanish company, that shocked me when I heard that this morning.

Airlines are finished until the vaccine, some countries will lockdown and not allow inbound flights and even when countries are open for business, most people won't fly as they are the biggest spreaders with recycled air.

It shouldn't be helped there is no business need, they will take staff back on in a few years if things get back to normal, but in the meantime, the staff just aren't needed.

BA have sadly just made 12,000 of their 44.000 staff , not good at all .

I agree it is a British Flagship, but people are asking the British Govt to step in and help, the problem like most of the biggest British businesses & companies they are virtually not really British anymore.

BA is 40% owned by a Spanish company, that shocked me when I heard that this morning.

Airlines are finished until the vaccine, some countries will lockdown and not allow inbound flights and even when countries are open for business, most people won't fly as they are the biggest spreaders with recycled air.

It shouldn't be helped there is no business need, they will take staff back on in a few years if things get back to normal, but in the meantime, the staff just aren't needed.

Yes for airlines it won’t be the same for years .

Qatar Airways the latest this morning to be planning job cuts .

Dont aircraft recycle the air in the plane ? , all it takes is for 1 cov positive person to jump on board - and then their breath is recycled throughout the plane - nice one.
As others have said - airlines are completely screwed at the moment. Maybe we'll all start to go on cruises instead ...... oh maybe we wont after the cruise ship corona issues.

Time to stay at home for a while - or go somewhere we can drive to . Scotland / Ireland / France.
Extinction Rebellion have got what they want - now lets see what happens....

BA owner hopes to revive flights in July

International Airlines Group (IAG), which owns British Airways (BA), Aer Lingus and Iberia, says it is planning a "meaningful return" of flights in July at the earliest if lockdown measures are eased.

But the company said the plans were "highly uncertain", and subject to various travel restrictions.

The group has grounded 94% of its flights during the pandemic and says it does not expect passenger demand to fully recover before 2023.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said: "We will adapt our operating procedures to ensure our customers and our people are properly protected in this new environment."

IAG reported an operating loss of €535m (£466.6m) for the first three months of the year, marking a sharp fall from a profit of €135m in the same period in 2019. BA is set to cut up to 12,000 jobs due to the collapse in business.

Dont aircraft recycle the air in the plane ? , all it takes is for 1 cov positive person to jump on board - and then their breath is recycled throughout the plane - nice one.
As others have said - airlines are completely screwed at the moment. Maybe we'll all start to go on cruises instead ...... oh maybe we wont after the cruise ship corona issues.

Time to stay at home for a while - or go somewhere we can drive to . Scotland / Ireland / France.
Extinction Rebellion have got what they want - now lets see what happens....

Air recirculation systems on Airbus and Boeing aircraft have HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters which remove dust, allergens, bacteria, viruses and other irritating particles from the air in pressurised cabins and cockpits.

All of the air in the cabin is on average completely changed every 3 minutes.

HEPA filters are very effective at removing viruses (testing shows a virus removal efficiency of 99.999%). This means that the virus will be retained in the filter.

During this pandemic I’d be more concerned about the quality of air in a supermarket than in a modern commercial jetliner.

UK 'to bring in 14-day quarantine' for air passengers

UK airlines say they have been told the government will bring in a 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving in the UK from any country apart from the Republic of Ireland in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The new restriction is expected to take effect at the end of this month.

Industry body Airlines UK said the policy needed "a credible exit plan" and should be reviewed weekly.

People arriving in the UK would have to self-isolate at a private residence.

Government and aviation sources told BBC News that the quarantine would mean people might be expected to provide an address when they arrive at the border.

It is not clear how long the new travel restriction would be in place and whether non-UK residents would be allowed to stay in rented private accommodation.

"We need to see the details of what they are proposing", said Airlines UK, which represents British Airways, EasyJet and other UK-based airlines, in a statement.

We're getting a bit more reaction from the airline industry to the government's reported plan to impose a 14-day quarantine for most people arriving in the UK.

Airlines UK, the trade body for UK-registered airlines, said there was "no clarity on the detail" in a call with the government aviation minister this morning.

Speaking to the BBC, a spokesperson from Airlines UK said: "Ministers are effectively telling people they can no longer travel for the foreseeable future and airlines will respond to that by grounding their operations - and that is why they require urgent additional government support to get through this growing crisis.

"We all - including government - need to adapt to the new normal but closing off air travel in this way is not the way to achieve this."

The new rules are expected to come into effect at the end of May.

British Airways: 'Nothing positive' in PM's address yesterday

Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways' parent company IAG, has been giving evidence this morning to the Commons Transport Select Committee about the demand for air travel.

He said that "there's nothing positive in anything I heard the Prime Minister say yesterday", and that a 14-day quarantine on arrival into the UK would make the situation "worse" for the travel industry.

The announcement was a surprise and the Government needs to clarify the "science behind that", Mr Walsh said, adding:

"We had been planning to resume - on a pretty significant basis - our flying in July. I think we'd have to review that based on what the Prime Minister said yesterday.

"Despite the fact that there had been some rumours about this quarantine period, I don't think anybody believed that the UK Government would actually implement it if they were serious about getting the economy moving again."

British Airways: 'Nothing positive' in PM's address yesterday

Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways' parent company IAG, has been giving evidence this morning to the Commons Transport Select Committee about the demand for air travel.

He said that "there's nothing positive in anything I heard the Prime Minister say yesterday", and that a 14-day quarantine on arrival into the UK would make the situation "worse" for the travel industry.

The announcement was a surprise and the Government needs to clarify the "science behind that", Mr Walsh said, adding:

"We had been planning to resume - on a pretty significant basis - our flying in July. I think we'd have to review that based on what the Prime Minister said yesterday.

"Despite the fact that there had been some rumours about this quarantine period, I don't think anybody believed that the UK Government would actually implement it if they were serious about getting the economy moving again."

It was bad news for the travel industry basically, Summer holidays are cancelled.

Thomas has found a loophole in a post saying the Eurotunnel will stay open, and that people could fly from France, but I don't think there will be that many people prepared to risk trains planes and automobiles just for a holiday abroad.

Dont aircraft recycle the air in the plane ? , all it takes is for 1 cov positive person to jump on board - and then their breath is recycled throughout the plane - nice one.
As others have said - airlines are completely screwed at the moment. Maybe we'll all start to go on cruises instead ...... oh maybe we wont after the cruise ship corona issues.

Time to stay at home for a while - or go somewhere we can drive to . Scotland / Ireland / France.
Extinction Rebellion have got what they want - now lets see what happens....

Air recirculation systems on Airbus and Boeing aircraft have HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters which remove dust, allergens, bacteria, viruses and other irritating particles from the air in pressurised cabins and cockpits.

All of the air in the cabin is on average completely changed every 3 minutes.

HEPA filters are very effective at removing viruses (testing shows a virus removal efficiency of 99.999%). This means that the virus will be retained in the filter.

During this pandemic I’d be more concerned about the quality of air in a supermarket than in a modern commercial jetliner.

This is providing the airlines actually use it to the max ( costing huge amounts of money!!!) most airlines only change the air once every 10/15 minutes if that!!!
Free COVID with every seat purchased

Dont aircraft recycle the air in the plane ? , all it takes is for 1 cov positive person to jump on board - and then their breath is recycled throughout the plane - nice one.
As others have said - airlines are completely screwed at the moment. Maybe we'll all start to go on cruises instead ...... oh maybe we wont after the cruise ship corona issues.

Time to stay at home for a while - or go somewhere we can drive to . Scotland / Ireland / France.
Extinction Rebellion have got what they want - now lets see what happens....

Air recirculation systems on Airbus and Boeing aircraft have HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters which remove dust, allergens, bacteria, viruses and other irritating particles from the air in pressurised cabins and cockpits.

All of the air in the cabin is on average completely changed every 3 minutes.

HEPA filters are very effective at removing viruses (testing shows a virus removal efficiency of 99.999%). This means that the virus will be retained in the filter.

During this pandemic I’d be more concerned about the quality of air in a supermarket than in a modern commercial jetliner.

This is providing the airlines actually use it to the max ( costing huge amounts of money!!!) most airlines only change the air once every 10/15 minutes if that!!!
Free COVID with every seat purchased

Plus a cough would land The virus particles on the seats alongside and Infront, maybe some in the air would be sucked up but most would be blown down by the air vents, any way no flights for a long time a way.

Dont aircraft recycle the air in the plane ? , all it takes is for 1 cov positive person to jump on board - and then their breath is recycled throughout the plane - nice one.
As others have said - airlines are completely screwed at the moment. Maybe we'll all start to go on cruises instead ...... oh maybe we wont after the cruise ship corona issues.

Time to stay at home for a while - or go somewhere we can drive to . Scotland / Ireland / France.
Extinction Rebellion have got what they want - now lets see what happens....

Air recirculation systems on Airbus and Boeing aircraft have HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters which remove dust, allergens, bacteria, viruses and other irritating particles from the air in pressurised cabins and cockpits.

All of the air in the cabin is on average completely changed every 3 minutes.

HEPA filters are very effective at removing viruses (testing shows a virus removal efficiency of 99.999%). This means that the virus will be retained in the filter.

During this pandemic I’d be more concerned about the quality of air in a supermarket than in a modern commercial jetliner.

I think you may have read the same thing as me, except the article I read stated that the air is changed every 30 mins, not 3

Dont aircraft recycle the air in the plane ? , all it takes is for 1 cov positive person to jump on board - and then their breath is recycled throughout the plane - nice one.
As others have said - airlines are completely screwed at the moment. Maybe we'll all start to go on cruises instead ...... oh maybe we wont after the cruise ship corona issues.

Time to stay at home for a while - or go somewhere we can drive to . Scotland / Ireland / France.
Extinction Rebellion have got what they want - now lets see what happens....

Air recirculation systems on Airbus and Boeing aircraft have HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters which remove dust, allergens, bacteria, viruses and other irritating particles from the air in pressurised cabins and cockpits.

All of the air in the cabin is on average completely changed every 3 minutes.

HEPA filters are very effective at removing viruses (testing shows a virus removal efficiency of 99.999%). This means that the virus will be retained in the filter.

During this pandemic I’d be more concerned about the quality of air in a supermarket than in a modern commercial jetliner.

This is providing the airlines actually use it to the max ( costing huge amounts of money!!!) most airlines only change the air once every 10/15 minutes if that!!!
Free COVID with every seat purchased

The air condition systems are automated ......you can’t actually set or amend how often the air is “changed”

Plans to make 12,000 British Airways workers redundant remain unchanged despite the UK government's extension of the coronavirus furlough scheme to the end of October, the airline's owner has said.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh, in a letter to the Transport Select Committee where he gave evidence on Monday, said that British Airways had processed cash refunds on 921,000 bookings, with vouchers given on a further 346,000 bookings.

The furlough scheme is designed to help people put on leave due to the coronavirus outbreak and to prevent employers having to make mass redundancies.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced on Tuesday that employees would continue to receive 80% of their monthly wages up to £2,500 ($3,050) until October.

But he said the government would ask companies to "start sharing" the cost of the scheme from August.

A quarter of the workforce, some 7.5 million people, are now covered by the scheme, which is costing £14bn a month.

Qatar Airways cuts 'a very hard decision'

The chief executive of Qatar Airways says he's cutting one in five staff and aircraft because of the coronavirus crisis.

Akbar al Baker says the company "hopes things will rebound" but he says no-one can predict how long it will take for the industry to recover.

Qatar Airways has daily flights between Cardiff and Doha.

More than 1,000 Welsh jobs at risk at British Airways

More than 1,000 British Airways jobs in south Wales are under threat.

The firm says it has started a 45-day consultation programme with workers at three sites in south Wales - Llantrisant, Blackwood and Rhoose.

BA says they are proposed changes and are subject to consultation with unions.

The sites include the interiors engineering factory in Blackwood, the avionics services site in Llantrisant and the maintenance plant at Rhoose.

Airlines write to UK government over 'unjust' quarantine rules

Three airlines have written to the UK government to protest against its "wholly unjustified and disproportionate" quarantine rules due to come into force from Monday.

From 8 June almost all arrivals in the UK will be required to self-isolate for 14 days and give details of their accommodation, measures that airlines fear will stop people wanting to come to the UK.

In England, a breach of rules will be punishable with a £1,000 fine.

The message from British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet is described as a "pre-action protocol letter", meaning it could be followed by legal action.

The airlines say the measures are harsher than those imposed on people confirmed to have coronavirus who are asked to isolate and do not face criminal sanctions for failing to do so.

Their letter also said it was "illogical and irrational" to impose quarantine on people arriving from EU countries that have lower infection rates than Britain.

The Channel Tunnel's owner has also written to Boris Johnson calling for his "urgent intervention" to solve issues around the quarantine rules.