CWLCY op by BA Ltd. no more
Dec 23, 2014, 6:23 am
#3
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Dec 23, 2014, 6:30 am
#4
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Indeed, there should be no noticeable impact to us passengers other than the Captain not needing to say the service is operated by "British Airways BA Ltd." any more.
It's purely an AOC change. Flight deck still come from Heathrow and cabin crew from Gatwick.
It's purely an AOC change. Flight deck still come from Heathrow and cabin crew from Gatwick.
Dec 23, 2014, 6:32 am
#5
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The whole point of the change was a bit daft anyway. Although they did use the call sign Gherkin instead of Speedbird.
Dec 23, 2014, 6:32 am
#6
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There were no flight crew changes/issues when these flights were moved from BA mainline for the subsidiary so I would not expect any changes if the flights move back (I can see that the "operated by" details on my 2015 BA1 flights have changed). I do wonder if they have got FAA approval for the change under the AA codeshare numbers (as this is a change to the codeshare arrangements) - I recall there was a delay when the flights were moved last time which meant the flights could not be booked using the AA numbers for a while.
Dec 23, 2014, 9:03 am
#8
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Dec 23, 2014, 9:07 am
#9
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Dec 23, 2014, 9:15 am
#10
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IIRC there was a plan to bundle up some more assets (in the true sense) - LHR slots, possibly? - into the company and then use it as security for financing. But the idea never took off, and the transaction didn't complete.
Dec 23, 2014, 9:49 am
#11
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I doubt it was daft. Remember this was a commercial decision. There will have been an advantage to IAG in setting up a SPV to operate these flights (whether that be some sort of leasing advantage/securitisation issue).
Dec 23, 2014, 10:44 am
#12
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Slightly related but aren't BA setting up an Airbus flight crew base at Gatters now that the boeings are going ?
That way surely both cabin and flight crews will come from LGW ?
cs
That way surely both cabin and flight crews will come from LGW ?
cs
Dec 23, 2014, 10:48 am
#13
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Nobody at LGW is London City trained and I doubt the small one way saving in transport costs is worth the training expense and loss of experience on the A318 fleet.
Dec 23, 2014, 11:26 am
#14
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One upside of this - anyone who used AmEx corporate travel as their travel agent and used an AAirpass to book transatlantic travel wasn't able to book LCY>JFK as it wasn't operated by mainline BA. This should go away now that the route is no longer going to be operated by BA Ltd.
Dec 23, 2014, 12:13 pm
#15
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Perhaps an insider could confirm that in the UK flight/cabin crews can hold current qualifications for 3 aircraft types (A320 family counting as one type just as 733/734/735 did) so from summer 2015 LGW-based personnel would have a "spare" type as there will only be 772 and A318/9/20 allocated.