Singapore_Air From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 13711 posts, RR: 21 Posted (11 years 5 months 2 weeks 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 943 times:
BA prepares 10,000 job cuts
By Neil Bennett (Filed: 09/12/2001)
BRITISH Airways is considering up to 10,000 more job losses as part of a radical new plan to fight its way back to profitability.
The airline, which has already announced 7,000 job cuts in the wake of the World Trade Centre attacks and the collapse in passenger numbers, is working on a key initiative called the "Future Size and Shape Project".
Although the report will not be delivered to the board until February, early drafts of it are said to make a number of drastic recommendations. These include cutting the workforce from 57,000 to 47,000, closing loss-making regional routes from Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and cutting up to half the remaining European services.
The airline would relinquish many of its slots at Gatwick and Heathrow to low-cost operators.
The report is being worked on by five key managers within BA's head office near Heathrow airport, and will be presented to Rod Eddington, the chief executive, early in the New Year.
If the early proposals are carried out it will shrink BA to a fraction of its current size and force it to focus on its high-revenue routes. A BA spokesman said it was too early to assess the impact that the review would have on jobs.
Singapore_Air From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 13711 posts, RR: 21 Reply 1, posted (11 years 5 months 2 weeks 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 930 times:
An very interesting column-article:
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Excess baggage in the boardroom
BRITISH Airways continues to show an unerring knack of shooting itself in the wings. My friend in the cockpit has passed me a copy of BA News, which shows just how disorganised and self-defeating this organisation has become.
On the front page the company laments the fact that not enough people are travelling at the front of its aeroplanes. Turn inside to the letters page and you discover a disquieting fact. The airline has just downgraded Club World baggage.
In the old days if you paid a 1,000 per cent premium or so to travel Club, one of the few benefits was that your bags would arrive at the carousel first. It is not much you would think, for the extra £2,000 or so for a round trip ticket to the US. Now BA has discovered it can save a few bob by lumping Club World bags in with steerage.
Bravo, I'm all for cost-cutting but won't this mean that Club World passengers are left hanging around for their bags for half an hour? Hardly the way to encourage them to travel more and pay the swingeing premiums for the doilies and washbags at the front of the aircraft.
It is only a small detail but it suggests that BA still has a worryingly loose grip on the concept of customer service. Rod Eddington appears to be tackling the chief executive's job manfully but he doesn't seem to receive any support from Lord Marshall, his chairman. I have said before that it is time the airline had a new one and I haven't changed my mind.
Meanwhile, I also hear that BA is planning a huge marketing splurge next month and may even have a tickets giveaway, just like the day it flew everyone for free after the Gulf War. This would give the business the confidence boost it needs.
The message for customers is don't book your holiday flight until you see what's on offer in the January sale.
Ikarus From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 3524 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (11 years 5 months 2 weeks 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 921 times:
Giving up slots at LHR? Are they out of their minds? That's probably the most valuable asset they've got!
And what's up with the January sale? If they really offer flights for free (plus taxes, of course) like Ryanair, I might think about another quick hop across the pond!
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