Breaking news: British Airways Christmas strike canceled

by Scott Carmichael on

Good news for passengers who had planned to fly British Airways during the Christmas holiday – Their planned strike has been blocked by a British court.

The strike was scheduled to begin on December 22nd, and last till January 2nd, essentially shutting down the entire airline during one of the busiest periods of the year. Thankfully, Judge Laura Cox decided that the disruption could not go ahead.

Sadly, there are still a couple of issues that could screw up holiday plans, as baggage handlers and check-in staff are planning to do three separate “walkouts” at Heathrow. This dispute is unrelated to British Airways, though the walkout is being organized by the same union behind BA strike.

Traveling on British Airways this holiday season? Not so fast —

by Grant Martin on

You’ve got to hand it to the unions, they’re hitting British Airways where it hurts. They’ve chosen the busiest and most profitable holiday season to strike in protest of the airline’s recent cabin crew cuts, a move that will disrupt over a million passengers soon-flying on the United Kingdom’s flagship carrier.

If the plans to strike move forward, crews will walk off the job from December 22nd until January 2nd, the time during which nearly all holiday travel will take place. Those booked on the airline will encounter either severe disruption or canceled flights altogether.

That is to say, unless either the union (Unite) or the airline folds. Given the strongly worded statement from the company CEO Willie Walsh this afternoon, however, that may be further away than we think.

In the meantime, those that are scheduled to fly during those dates have been given the option to reschedule for a different itinerary. Instructions for rebooking can be found here, while news of the impending train wreck is being collected on BA’s frontpage. Let’s hope that this gets resolved quickly.

British Airways and Iberia agree on a “merger of equals”

by Scott Carmichael on

If you ever needed any more evidence that the aviation industry is changing, look no further than the big announcement from British Airways and Spanish flagship carrier Iberia this afternoon.

The two have announced that they reached an agreement on a “memorandum of understanding” to proceed with a full merger of equals. The combination will create one of the largest airlines in Europe, carrying 62 million passengers yearly. The joint revenues will be around 15 billion Euros and they’ll fly a fleet of 419 aircraft.

According to the press release, the new airline will be called TopCo, and will be based in Spain, with its headquarters in the UK. BA will own 55% of the combination and Iberia will hold the rest. The merger is expected to be completed in late 2010. Willie Walsh, the current CEO of British Airways will lead the new company.

Both airlines will keep their own names, and branding, very much like KLM and Air France did when they merged.

The full press release can be found here.

Financial trouble at British Airways could lead to strike

by Sean McLachlan on

Anyone following the travel news knows the airlines are in trouble. Well, it appears some airlines may be in more trouble than expected. British Airways announced that in the first half of its 2009 financial year it suffered a loss of £292 million ($485 million). In the same period in 2008 it made a profit of £52 million ($86 million).

This was more than a 13% loss of total revenue, with the company earning £4.1 billion ($6.8 billion) in the first half rather than the £4.75 billion ($7.9 billion) it earned in the same period in 2008. In a cost-saving measure, the company has announced it will cut 4,900 jobs by March 2010 and is considering a two-year pay freeze and a reduction of cabin crew from 15 crew members to 14 for long-haul flights.

What this flurry of numbers means to travelers like you and me is that there might be a strike at British Airways in December, just in time for the holiday season. Unite, the union for BA workers, is against the airline’s cost-saving measures and is asking its members if they want to go on strike. The strike vote has been put off for some time as the union negotiated with the airline, and the result of the vote won’t be known until December 14. Tune in here at Gadling for updates on this story.

British Airways flight greeted by hazmat team after 6 passengers faint

by Scott Carmichael on

Here is a sight you don’t want to be greeted by when you land at your destination – upon landing at London Heathrow, an ambulance hazmat team boarded the aircraft to check on the condition of six passengers who had fainted during the flight.

It probably isn’t too uncommon for one passenger to faint after the stress of a long haul flight, but six of them on a single plane usually warrants some kind of emergency response.

Thankfully, the passengers turned out to be fine, and emergency personnel allowed them to continue their journeys.

In this H1N1 panicked environment, it does make sense to be careful of anything out of the ordinary, even though in this case, it was probably one big coincidence.