Skipcool3

Cornish Simon... Right on all counts....

layz

I can't remember what financial state BA was back then, or whether they lost GB before or after BMED, but I wonder if GB had stayed independent a few more years whether they would have been snapped up by IAG.

I always feel like I'm receiving mixed messages with BA at LGW.

Skipcool3

In fairness, I think GB airways could see tougher times ahead, and profit margins were not quite 5% in their final year of ops.

But EZY snapped them up, for the slots mainly, as the airbus had different engines to the rest of the U2 fleet, disposing of the aircraft to BA, monarch etc...

Interesting that BA are now re entering the market as the economy is errr. Improving....

vectismanpaul

All the BA Airbus short haul fleet will have their cabins reconfigured over the next 2 years or so. By 2016/2017 cabin interiors will be standard with the exception I believe of some A319 aircraft that may end up with 1 more seat. I am happy to be corrected on this but I believe I am more or less accurate. Then there will be no difference between aircraft at LHR or LGW.

I also sometimes feel that BA gets criticised for not adding routes and then criticised for adding routes!!
I am pleased to see further expansion in the leisure market. Yes it may be returning to former routes but that tends to happen when the economy improves. Also as LGW now has a lower cost base they can be operated profitably.

I fully understand that in terms of markets served the BA network at Gatwick is radically different to the late 1990s/early 2000s but in terms of things like daily departures and arrivals at Gatwick it is now equal or slightly higher. I am also aware before anyone says that most flights are operated with smaller short haul aircraft plus the 9 to 10 daily 777 departures.

I am happy to see BA expand at both its main bases serving different market segments.
Just wish some on here could spend more time talking things up rather than down.

V.

jaseuk

You can always rely on skipness1e to send the post of doom. Even before I read who the author was I knew it was him! The one a year or two back said there would be no more expansion at LGW.........

vectismanpaul

I also believe that to describe BA seat pitch similar to Thomson, Monarch or Easyjet is not totally factually correct.

Not everyone is merely using the routes to spend their avios either. Myself and my family along with others pay in cash and travel BA because we prefer the ethos of that airline.

V.

ian001

GB Airways was profitable, but the profit margin was wafer thin (circa 1% I recall) and that was without BA overheads (ISTR the below the wing handling for GB Airways in its later years was actually done by VS).

Had GB Airways come on to the market now, BA might have snapped it up.

At the time GB Airways put itself up for a sale in 2008, there were a lot of other things on the "to do" list, not least fixing the LHR operation which pre-T5 was often seemingly on the verge of collapsing in on itself. Given what happened afterwards with the financial crash, it was a wise move.

A P Yu

Agreed, BA don't /won't have the several rows of extra legroom seats which TOM aircraft have been reconfigured to have. Extra Legroom seats are now available on most TOM aircraft with the 738s being reconfigured this year after the 757s were done last year when they took out two rows to provide several more spacious rows up front.

DYKWIA

You've got it the wrong way round. The feed is from AUS to LHR, where BA has its hub. That's why the likes of UA do MAN-IAD, or US GLA-PHL.

vectismanpaul

In my comment re the seat pitch I was referring to the whole aircraft.
No BA short-haul aircraft has seat pitch of 29 inches which I believe is common to many charter and low cost operators.
The debate about the CE seat pitch is another matter. To be honest I believe the refurbishment will go ahead and final details are just taking a bit longer to sort.

I am 6 3 tall and to be honest have never had a problem with the seats on any airbus aircraft. (In both CE and ET). However I do tend to be less 'precious' about such things compared to others.


V.

gw76

LOL ! ^

FrancisA

Not quite. At its demise/sale to EZ, GB served RHO (and it had a portacabin as its lounge!). BA mainline served CAG (right up to 2012/13 I think). I don't recall either GB or Mainline BA serving the others. I may have forgotten some of these destinations, but I did last-chance CE trips to loads of GB destinations including MLA and FNC, when GB's demise in March 2008 was confirmed. (BA are back to MLA, FNC would be nice.) I don't remember the others as being options.

When the Bland group wanted to sell, BA were against franchises in general, burdened with move to T5, struggling to get 10% GP across the group, eyeing up merger with IB, awash with slots in the economic downturn and not short of planes either. It may have been a shame, but I can understand why BA did not buy GB. If the logic was "we can always relaunch services if there is a market", then queue this announcement.

Don't get me wrong, I loved GB's CE service, with magazine racks and decent NV Champagne from full-sized bottles (I don't know about hot food in Y, is there none now to band 4 destinations?), but it was a niche product that struggled to make more than a modest profit. The other obvious comparator (and fellow franchisee) is Comair, which also offers a better Club product. Again, it is also a marginal operator benefitting from its knowledge of its local market.

All I can say is good on BA for offering those of us who want to fly CE to holiday destinations a proper alternative to the LCCs.

BlackBerryAddict

Quite.

So get AA or US to run DFW/ORD/JFK/MIA or CLT/PHL to LGW...

Skipcool3

Gb airways were hardly a small operator, with at least 9 A320s and 6 A321s operational in 2008. Hot catering was offered at lunch time and in the evening on even B3 equivalent flights ( I was fairly regular on ALC and VLC, GIB and ACE.)
Full list of flights here for a refresh, a friend of mine was the GB airways dispatcher (M.W) at Gatwick.
London Gatwick (Agadir, Ajaccio, Alicante, Arrecife, Bastia, Corfu, Dalaman, Fez, Faro, Funchal, Gibraltar, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Marrakech, Montpellier, Mykonos, Nantes, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rhodes, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Tunis)
London Heathrow (Casablanca, Faro, Malaga, Marrakech, Tangiers)
Manchester (Heraklion, Innsbruck, Malaga, Malta, Paphos, Salzburg, Tenerife-South)

As regards seat pitch, BA acknowledge that it is 29" behind row 13 on the 737. The former BMI A319s, which I travelled on last week, has 30" throughout the cabin. My knees were actually touching the seat in front of me and we were in row 4. Which is tight.

All BA have to do is remove a single row of seats (in front of row 10) the extra 3" of leg room (so in effect, 4club seats) would transform the product for me.
I am dreading my flight to Cyprus later in the year....
As a reminder, Monarch offer a choice of 34" seat pitch on most flights, the option to purchase hot catering or pre order it, option of lounges, champagne on board... Perhaps I should fly with them.

paul4040

Great minds think alike.

Good choice of destinations - lack of English domestics still an issue but I generally take the train into LGW anyway. Good news for me anyhow.