British Airways and the Unions

BRITISH AIRWAYS continues to be in the news but not necessarily for the right reasons with passenger boardings down and the Unions on the warpath.  Travel numbers fell 1.7% last month but punctuality was the best since January 1994 with more than 50% of flights actually departing early.  While numbers travelling in economy class seats rose 0.7% last month, premium traffic (Business Class and First Class) was down 7.9%. 

The BA policy with the media is now not to issue a statement but to have one available on request.  This is OK during office hours but does not necessarily fit 24-hour journalism.

“The aviation industry remains in the worst downturn in its history.  IATA anticipates that the industry will make a £7bn loss this year.

British Airways is currently not profitable and we expect to record a significant loss for the second consecutive year – the first time that has happened in our history.

Revenues are down, so we must reduce costs to restore profitability.

Thousands of staff across the airline have already made contributions to the cost-reduction programme.

We have been talking to the cabin crew unions since the start of the year, but have made little progress on the contribution they might make.

We have extremely professional cabin crew.  However, we cannot ignore the fact that our Heathrow-based cabin crew costs are much higher than those of our Gatwick-based crew and of our competitors.  About 1,000 members of cabin crew would like to take voluntary redundancy and a further 3,000 would like to switch to part-time working.  To facilitate these requests (which represent 1,700 MPE positions in total), we must make changes to the way crew work.

We have consulted on these changes and are not altering anything that requires negotiation.

These changes will take place from the end of November.  They will not alter contractual terms and conditions for individual crew members, and will not reduce the number of working crew onboard.

Offering high-quality customer service will remain our focus and our most senior cabin crew will become an integral part of the service onboard.

Without changes, we will lose more money with every month that passes.  It is essential we make ourselves more efficient if we are to ensure our long-term survival.”

Unite followed with a statement alleging that it offered £140m in savings and accusing BA of management failure.  Previously it had attacked the airline concerning the image being put forward on the commercial front.  BA has retorted that it will speak to Unite but is pressing ahead with its plans. www.ba.com www.unitetheunion.com

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