BOH

Then a) state the actual capacity being returned b) which airlines are returning and c) by when? Sounds like you must be clearly in the know.....so state facts rather than your current assertion many airlines are returning capacity "over the next little while" which I believe qualifies for nothing more than a vaguely wild guess and you really have no idea?

KARFA

Except they are different industries facing different challenges.

I would be surprised if any European major airline is anywhere near 100% of the pre-COVID capacity by then end of 2020 - hardly surprising since most major economies are facing double figure decreases in GDP this year and massive increases in unemployment, to say nothing of possible second waves of the virus of course. In fact many airlines including BA are only planning to get to that level in 2022/23 - they are already cutting the fleets to reflect this.

There is clearly an immediate cut in capacity to under 5%, an intermediate period hopefully during this summer where airlines can start up again and get at least back over 50%, and a very long recovery which will largely depend on how long it takes for the economy to revover.

Biscuittin

Are you really not aware that Virgin Atlantic just announced that it will being operating again next month, that EasyJet will restart in a couple of weeks, that Air Canada is now operating significantly more long haul that it was operating a couple of weeks ago? That Turkish is restarting? That KLM and Lufthansa have restarted routes that were dropped? Etc etc.

Or does that fact that neither BA or VS will operate from Gatwick again soon somehow disprove the above?

Littlegirl

What members of Parliament feel.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wVB6nD...ature=youtu.be

Littlegirl

How Mr. O’Leary is treating his staff.

JFX1764

It proves that airline capactiy is returning very slowly and greatly reduced.

BOH

....you forgot part a) of the question. VS "will begin operating again next month" or "Easyjet will restart in a couple of weeks" and the others you stated are not facts on what actual capacity is returning, is all simply hearsay. What is the ACTUAL capacity.

And yes, BA in particular not operating any flights from the UK's second busiest airport for the foreseeable future is pretty significant in terms of anything like capacity returning soon.

Biscuittin

Nobody said otherwise.

JFX1764

If only there was a way for the unions to meet with the airline to put a similar propoal forward.

BOH

Got to be post of the day

Biscuittin

I don't have the figures on actual capacity, but I don't need them to state that they're adding capacity. Going from zero to a small operation that will probably expand in increments is adding capacity which is all I said was occurring in the first place. Can we stop being pedantic?

BOH

Nice to see O'Leary being considerate like that for once. So why didn't Len the 70s dinosaur state in that earlier interview link you posted that he has some specific plans and ideas he wants to discuss with BA to mitigate job losses? Instead he just peddled his usual outright lies and came out of that interview with zero credibility.

BOH

But whilst there may be tiny positives in that (and remember a headline grabbing doubling in capacity simply moves you from 5% to 10% of original schedule) there is no way the traffic will return to anything like previous in the next few months or even within two years. Therefore BA (and all airlines) do not need anything like the staff they had on their headcount on 1st January. This is what is whole thread is about and sadly that 12,000 definite redundancies may not be be deep enough.

Biscuittin

Yes, and I'm not sure why you needed to spend so much time arguing that that wasn't the case.

Everybody knows that staff reductions are necessary. Continue to cheer BA on for the way they're going about it if you like.

T5ops

I don't know the plan, but where has it been confirmed that all staff will be made redundant and offered new contracts? It's just not true.