Posts Tagged ‘British Airways’

AAIB recommends takeoff review for BA after St Kitts gaffe

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has told British Airways that it should review its practices regarding takeoffs and landings after the regulatory group finished its investigation of an incident last year which saw a BA aircraft depart from the wrong runway. According to the report issued by the AAIB, the flight, which departed on 26 September from St Kitts, resulted in a Boeing 777 taking off from a runway which was too short to support aircraft of that size.

A representative for the AAIB said that the report shows several factors which contributed to the potentially catastrophic mistake, including BA not conducting a physical survey of the airfield prior to takeoff, as well as the captain and co-pilot not discussing taxi routing. In addition, the report said that St Kitts did not adequately post signs identifying taxiway or holding points at the facility.

The report went on to say that during the incident, the co-pilot noticed there was a problem when the plane began to ascend, as he immediately noticed grass underneath the nose of the plane. The AAIB said that further mistakes could be avoided if BA conducts reviews of the processes by which inspections are made at all its destination airfields.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Iberia enjoys strong second quarter performance

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Spanish airline Iberia announced profits of €31 million during the second quarter of 2010, which the firm attributes to the successful implementation of cost savings initiatives as well as increased demand for international travel. The successful second quarter is a significant departure from the €73 million loss the firm suffered during the same period in 2009, and company executives hope the strong performance is a prelude of things to come once Iberia merges with British Airways later this year. The two firms announced the intent to consolidate this past April, and once completed, the newly-formed International Airlines Group will be among the largest airlines in the world.

According to a representative for Iberia, the financial recovery enjoyed by the firm during the second quarter is directly related to a substantial increase in international business travellers, as domestic demand fell short of expectations. The spokesperson went on to say that cost-cutting initiatives at Iberia helped decrease overall expenditures by 5.9 per cent, another factor which contributed to the firm’s success.

The highly anticipated merger with BA is expected to be completed by November, after which the company headquarters will be in London, with BA shareholders controlling 55 per cent of the firm. Although the two companies will be consolidated under one corporate umbrella, both BA and Iberia will continue day-to-day operations as separate and unique entities.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Delays and cancellations for European travellers as Icelandic volcano spews ash

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted on Tuesday, spewing volcanic ash and debris into the skies around Iceland, causing major air-traffic problems for northern Europe. Travellers bound for and originating from the UK have been particularly hard-hit, for the mushroom cloud of ash is in the centre of a major British flight path.

The cloud of debris is slowly moving towards the European continent, and much of the UK airspace has been closed due to visibility problems. This has led to disruption of travel for Ryanair and cancellations of domestic flights by British Airways.

London’s major airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, have suspended nearly 250 flights, and runways have been closed indefinitely at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Belfast. Airports are encouraging passengers with scheduled flights to check with their airlines for schedule changes and cancellations.

The movement of the ash cloud is being tracked by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. According to their forecasts, the debris will spread over the European mainland, after which it could take several days to clear.

Besides visibility problems, the volcanic ash is also dangerous due to the effect it has on airplane engines. A British Airways 747 lost power on all four of its engines in 1982 while flying through a similar cloud of volcanic ash.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Rail strike could affect millions

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Millions of rail passengers face Easter travel chaos in the first national rail strike in 16 years. The unions RMT and TSSA have called out thousands of members for the four days straight after the bank holiday. 

National Rail claims the strike is timed to cause maximum pain and disruption to passengers. Approximately 5,000 signallers are to walk off the job for two four-hour spells each day from April 6. This will also affect families during the Easter school holiday period.

Meanwhile, 13,000 maintenance workers will also walk off the job for four days from Tuesday morning. Overtime and rest-day working is also banned. At the same time, a strike ballot is being threatened by the RMT on the London Underground in a dispute over job cuts.

This weekend, air travellers also face a four day strike by cabin crew, with the prospect of the union, Unite, calling on members to strike again after April 14. The strikes will place further pressure on PM Gordon Brown by bringing back memories of the 1970s union strife which is expected to kick-start the General Election campaign.

It will also shift the focus on Labour’s links with the unions.  The Tories claimed last night that the TSSA had given the party £350,000 since the last election. The strikes come after a breakdown of talks between the RMT, TSSA and Network Rail over proposed plans to cut 1,300 maintenance jobs as part of a £5 billion money saving scheme.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

British Airways to announce flights affected by upcoming strike

Monday, March 15th, 2010

With a strike looming, the UK’s flagship carrier British Airways is due to announce the flights that may be cancelled due to a looming strike penned in by cabin crew for next weekend.

The strike is over pay and reduced staffing levels at the airline, with the initial strike to commence on March 20th.

In the meantime, a spokesman for Downing Street has refused to confirm whether or not Prime Minister Gordon Brown has spoken to the union representing the cabin crew, Unite.

Newspaper reports have indicated that the PM called the general secretary of the union to talk about possible solutions to the issue.

The strike is expected to last for three days, with a second strike lasting for four days due to commence on the 27th of March.

The announcement, anticipated to take place this afternoon, will allow hundreds of thousands of travellers to make an informed decision on what alternative travel arrangements to make.

However, the airline is insisting that it will operate 70 per cent of services, with most cancellations likely to be domestic or short haul operations.

BA has also said that it would be operating at least 23 aircraft with trained replacement crews made up from staff from other departments in the airline.

It has been reported that Gordon Brown has weighed in personally into the dispute, making a weekend phone call to Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of the Unite union.

But a source at Downing Street could not confirm or deny the claim, saying that he did not want to give a running commentary on the dispute.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Union close to reaching a deal with British Airways

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Thousands of passengers are expected to find out today whether their travel plans are to be disrupted by strike action.

The Unite union representing British Airways hosties claims that they are close to reaching an agreement with the airline that could avert an upcoming strike, however have hit out at comments said by chief executive of the airline Willie Walsh.

The dispute commenced last autumn after the airline unveiled plans to freeze pay and cut around 1700 flight attendant positions, reducing the number of crew on board jumbo jets from 15 to 14.

On Wednesday, Walsh said that airline was prepared as they could be.  By next week the airline will have 1000 non cabin crew staff prepared to fly and expects to train up to 6000 staff members so that it could cope with any industrial action.

Mr Walsh said that the plans were to protect the travel arrangement of customers, and are better than many people have imagined possible in the difficult conditions that a strike would cause.

He went on to say that all long haul flights operating out of London’s Gatwick Airport and half of all short haul flights out of the airport would be unaffected, however it remains unclear how badly the strike would affect services out of Heathrow.

As he was speaking, the airline was still in discussions with the unions, with talks continuing today.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

British Airways cabin crew pics end up on porn site

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Images have been leaked onto a porn website allegedly showing British Airways cabin crew in sexy poses.

The images were said to have been taken by staff that were fooling around on aircraft and were meant for their friends’ eyes only, it was reported.

However, the pictures emerged on a hard-core porn website yesterday, embarrassing the women involved.

The photos reveal the cabin crew, wearing distinctive red, white and blue uniforms, lifting up their skirts to show their stockings and bottoms.

One source said that they were never intended to get out and never had occurred if they knew it would end up on a porn site.

British Airways says that it would investigate any employees found posing for such images.

But it said that there was no evidence that any of the women work for the carrier.

The news comes just days after cabin crew voted in favour of a strike over working conditions and pay cuts, with a possible date for a stop work taking place in March.  The potential strikes could affect thousands of passengers, however the union has pledged that it would not take any action during the peak Easter travel period.

Talks have been on going with the airline and the union, Unite, and a possible negotiation could be reached soon.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

BA hosties support strike action

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

The travel plans of passengers who have booked flights with British Airways could be in chaos as cabin crew voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action due to conditions and pay.

The union representing the cabin crew, Unite, said that 78.77 per cent of the 11,691 ballot papers were issued and returned, with a total of 80.7 per cent supporting the strike.

But Unite has said that it would not be announcing any strike dates in the near future as it hoped it could continue negotiations with the airline.

The airline said that it would not allow Unite to ruin the company.

BA has said that some progress has been made during recent dialogue between the two parties and that it would do everything that it could to protect passenger’s travel plans should strikes take place.

Unite’s general secretary Len McCluskey said that the ballot result was a clear indication of the deep sense of grievance that its members felt.

He went on to say that it could only be hoped that the management of British Airways would now recognise that the only way to resolve the crisis was through negotiation, not through litigation and certainly not through intimidation.

Support for the strike action was lower than witnessed an earlier ballot which took place in December last year, which saw 92.4 per cent voting in favour of a strike.  But that vote was later deemed to be illegal by the High Court.

According to law, Unite must give a week’s notice if it plans to take strike action, meaning that any stop-work could take place from the first week of March.

The Union has already promised that there would be no stoppages over the Easter period.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Easter strikes likely for British Airways cabin crew

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Passengers travelling on British Airways flights could experience Easter travel chaos, as cabin crew for beleaguered UK flagship carrier will vote again on a fresh strike next month, according to union Unite.

The union will hold a fresh ballot of its members after recent negotiations with the airlines failed to find a resolution to the long-running dispute.

The airline said it was saddened but not surprised by the decision, but promised to continue talks.

A 12 day strike was originally planned over the Christmas peak travel period, however it was blocked by the High Court, which declared the strike illegal as members who had already accepted redundancies or who were no longer working with the airline took part in the ballot.

The union representing the cabin crew is in a dispute with British Airways over changes to cabin crew staffing levels on long-haul flights, a pay freeze and working conditions.

Assistant general secretary of Unite, Len McCluskey, said that intensive discussions between the union and the airline had failed to secure an agreement.

McCluskey added that the Union must honour their commitment to the members and provide a voice which had been denied by the courts prior to Christmas, and hold a fresh ballot for industrial action.

He did not rule out further talks with British Airways.

The airline said the decision to call the ballot into question Unite’s ‘good faith’ in recent negotiations which had said were designed to resolve the dispute without disruptions.

The struggling airline lost over £400 million in 2009 following a dramatic drop in the demand for air travel, especially premium class fares, resulting from the recession.

The airline has taken a tough stance, saying that it will not allow Unite to ruin British Airways, and believe they have the support of customers and the vast majority of staff in that objective.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

BA strike may take place in February

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

UK flagship carrier British Airways is likely to face further strike action in February 2010 as flight attendants prepare for another ballot.

Unite, the union representing the BA crew, is said to be in the planning stages for a strike ballot as soon as January, which could possibly see the airline hit by strikes in February 2010.

Unite is making sure the next ballot will not be ruled as unlawful and is required to give the airline with seven days’ notice of any industrial action.

A 12 day strike was anticipated to take place over the Christmas peak travel period from December 22, but the High Court granted the airline an injunction on the basis that some of the employees who voted had already taken voluntary redundancies.

The strike was planned as a response to changes in the terms of working conditions, pay freezes, as well as the number of cabin crew being cut by at least one on all long-haul flights.

However, it is business as usual at BA, who has recently launched a new sale for around the same time as the strikes.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »