Holiday News
Trade slams BA crew strike vote ( 24 Jan 2011
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Shares in International Airlines Group, the new holding company of British Airways and Iberia, started trading in London and Spain this morning. However, the launch on the London Stock Exchange and the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia Stock Exchanges was overshadowed by the BA cabin crew vote in favour of strike action, which was condemned by agents and operators. Unite balloted 10,220 cabin crew and 7,335 ballot papers were returned, with 78.5% in favour of action. BA said in a statement: ‘Of our 13,500 crew, only 43% voted in favour of strike action in this ballot. ‘Unite has lost about 2,500 cabin crew members since this dispute started, as crew have voted with their feet. ‘We urge Unite to return to the deal we negotiated, which guarantees pay rises for the next two years and secures terms and conditions for our existing crew that are the best in the UK industry. ‘Unite said it would recommend it to members, but then reneged on its promise. This U-turn reflected the union’s deep-seated internal divisions, especially its dysfunctional relationship with its crew branch, BASSA.’
However, Unite general secretary-designate Len McCluskey said: ‘For the fourth time in 13 months BA cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly in support of their union and expressed their dissatisfaction with management behaviour. ‘Surely BA management must now wake up and listen to the voice of its skilled and dedicated employees.’ Agents and operators slammed the vote by crew and its effect on the travelling public. Anne Godfrey, chief executive of the Guild of Travel Management Companies, said: ‘It’s unfortunate that Unite and BA staff have yet again voted for strike action at a time when we are seeing a slow recovery from recession. We encourage that recovery and the strike will do nothing to help. In fact, it will hamper it. ‘BA will yet again do all it can to ensure disruptions are kept to a minimum and the airline has done a very good job so far. There is a huge loyalty to BA and people are very patient. They like flying with BA.’ John Tangney, AITO aviation committee chairman (Tangney Tours), said: ‘If it wasn’t so serious it would be almost comical: cabin crew were warned that if they went on strike that their staff concessions would be removed yet they continued regardless.
‘Travellers who are concerned about this strike should contact their tour operator who will be ready for their calls and will help re-book flights with other carriers.’ bFrancesca Ecsery, global sales director of Cheapflights Media, said the result is ‘extremely disappointing if not unsurprising’. ‘BA is now very adept at working around strike action. The airline has promised to operate flights as usual from London Gatwick and City airports, with only some short-haul flights affected out of Heathrow,’ she added.
Bob Atkinson, travel analyst from travelsupermarket.com,also praised BA’s plans during other strikes, adding: ‘Groundhog day returns. BA customers are once more gearing up for a ride on the white-knuckle rollercoaster controlled by Unite as they wait to hear when strikes will go ahead and if the airline can operate their flight. ‘BA is sure to improve on getting more people away this time, should a strike go ahead, and its well-prepared contingency plans should ensure minimum disruption to customers.’
London City gets expansion go-ahead. ( 21st Jan 2011 )
London City Airport has welcomed a High Court ruling that it can go ahead with plans to increase flights by 50%.
The airport was granted permission by Newham Council in 2008 to expand its operation to increase annual flights from 80,000 to 120,000.
But a group of residents opposed to the expansion took their case to the High Court in a legal challenge to stop the airport’s growth.
The group, which called itself Fight the Flights, told the court the extra flights would increase noise and pollution, and said Newham Council had not taken into account a ‘fundamental change’ in government policy on aviation and climate change.
In response, the airport claimed the increased flights would bring added benefits to the region and said the airport contributed over £500m a year to the economy.
After hearing the evidence, Lord Justice Pill and Mr Justice Roderick Evans, dismissed the legal challenge.
Richard Gooding, chief executive of London City, said: ‘We are delighted with the decision to uphold the planning approval granted by the London Borough of Newham in July 2009 to increase the annual number of flight movements at London City Airport to 120,000.
‘This is great news for London City Airport and Newham and will allow us and our partner airlines to continue our key role in supporting the local, regional and national economies and providing new local employment and training opportunities.
‘The decision also enables us to continue supporting the much needed regeneration and investment which London City Airport has helped bring to East London over the past 23 years.’
Fight the Flights has 14 days to appeal.
Meanwhile, CityJet is to expand its London City services to France with new flights to Avignon and Toulon this summer.
The new services are in addition to a Florence flight, which CityJet recently announced.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet founder and major shareholder, has expressed concerns about the airline's plan to buy 15 new Airbus A320s.
( Jan 2011 )
The latest order was announced yesterday.
Stelios said: " As most shareholders in easyJet plc know, I wear two hats when it comes to my relationship with the company. As the licenser of the easyJet brand, any move that increases easyJet’s turnover should lead to higher royalties, so today’s announcement sounds like good news at least in the short term from this perspective.
Stelios: new easyJet aircraft must boost profits. "
'As the largest single shareholder in the company, I am not focused on seat capacity numbers but on earnings per share (EPS).
'The new management team should deliver on the analysts’ forecasts of increasing EPS from 28 pence last year to over 60 pence by 2013, or profit after tax of more than £250m in 2013.
" We shall see if these 15 incremental aircraft will find deployment on profitable new routes and earn the appropriate return on capital employed. 'I am still hoping to get greater transparency on which routes these and any other new aircraft are to be deployed. "
However the airline is unlikely, at present at least, to announce which new routes might be served, for competitive reasons. Jan 2011
easyJet has converted 15 options with aircraft manufacturer Airbus into firm orders. ( Jan 2011 )
As well as exercising its options over 15 A320s for delivery between 2012 and 2014, the carrier has secured new options over a further 33 of the aircraft.
It said the agreement would enable the continuation of its strategy of ‘carefully targeted growth with margin improvement’.
In addition, 20 of the A319 aircraft that easyJet had contracted to acquire from Airbus have been converted into orders for A320s.
As at end-September 2010, easyJet had a total of 196 aircraft in its fleet. This will rise to 204 by September 2011 and 220 by September 2013.
The acquisition of the latest aircraft reflects the ‘advantaged terms’ that easyJet has secured in its ongoing relationship with Airbus.
The basic price of each A320 was approximately $73m, giving a total list cost for the 15 new aircraft of $1.1bn, but easyJet has been granted ‘substantial confidential price concessions’.
Carolyn McCall, the airline's chief executive, said: ‘A central feature of the agreement is the flexibility it gives easyJet to vary the growth rate in its capacity to reflect economic conditions and market opportunities.
Vueling will fly to seven destinations from its new Toulouse base next summer as it expands outside Spain. ( Jan 2011 )
The airline, which merged with fellow Spanish low-cost carrier clickair last year, will station one aircraft at the new base and invest around €30m over the next three years to build up the operation.
Initial routes from Toulouse will be Pisa, Venice, Ibiza, Malaga, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Paris.
Barcelona-based Vueling already serves French destinations from its six Spanish hubs, which include Madrid and Valencia.
The Toulouse operation adds 40 flights per week with 200,000 seats on offer. Last year, the airline carried 1.3m passengers.
Chairman Josep Pique said: ‘This move is strategic because it starts a new phase of growth outside of Spain that validates the work of years of preparation to compete in the European market.’
Meanwhile, Norwegian Air Shuttle is to lease two Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft from autumn 2012 to start long-haul flights.
Destinations have yet to be released, but New York, Bangkok and Beijing have been suggested for the flights from Oslo.
Monarch Airlines has added 4,000 extra seats to Spanish destinations during the last week of the school holidays because of ‘huge demand’. ( Jan 2011 )
The carrier has added 22 extra flights, which will operate from Gatwick, Luton and Manchester to Malaga, Alicante and Majorca between 27 August and 5 September.
Tim Jeans, Monarch Airlines managing director, said the strengthening of the pound against the euro prompted a ‘huge surge in demand for flights to our core Western Med destinations’.
‘Monarch’s traffic figures have already recorded their highest ever passenger numbers for July coupled with their highest load factor, proving that 2010 is certainly not the year of the staycation,’ he said.
The airline has also introduced additional services from Manchester to Gibraltar on Sundays between 12 September and 31 October, and from Luton to Gibraltar between 24 September and 29 October.
At the start of the year, the airline believed that demand for this summer would lie in its Eastern Med destinations such as Turkey and Cyprus.
But the exchange rate changes have boosted business to destinations in Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar and resulted in the extra services to cope with the late booking surge.
In June, Monarch announced it would add a scheduled Gatwick service to Majorca from 17 July because of the rising demand for the Western Med.
Last week, Monarch Holidays reported that demand for the two-week summer holiday has ‘been restored’, signifying returning confidence in the market.
Travel agents have reported a surge in enquiries about overseas holidays around 29 April, the date of the Royal Wedding. ( Nov 2010 )
A survey by TripAdvisor suggested almost a third of Britons were planning a trip during the wedding week, while travelsupermarket.com predicted 2m would leave the country for the weekend after the wedding (Telegraph).
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