Showing posts with label Iberia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iberia. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

BA’s Cabin Crew Votes for Strike

British Airways is the flag carrier of United Kingdom and is amongst the most flamboyant airlines in the world. But everything is not going properly for the website as the cabin crew has gone on a strike. The entire cabin crew of British Airways once again voted for a strike which is quite bad news for the airlines.

This is quite a bad news for all the visitors who have booked cheap tickets on flights for the Easter vacation. With the long weekends of Easter and the royal wedding in the coming month of April cheap tickets on flights will be quite difficult to find.

The General Secretary designate Mr. Len McCluskey appealed to British Airways for figuring out some sought of negotiations. It quoted on the internet that, “Surely BA management must now wake up and listen to the voice of their skilled and dedicated employees.”

It has been quite long time since the problem between the crew and the company started but now it has surely come to a saturation point with the cabin crew going on a strike. The British Airways has refuted to the union claims of majority support of the cabin crew. It has been found that Unite has lost around 2,500 cabin crew members since the dispute started quite some time ago.

“Even with a smaller membership, the proportion of Unite members supporting disruption continues to fall, contrary to the union's claims,” The airline has said in a statement. The British Airways has insisted that in the event of strike all the ticket holders will not be troubled and all the flights will operate on normal timetables and from different airports as well.

British Airways is amongst the biggest airlines in the world and once it was also rated as the best in the world. But the recent feuds with its crew members has resulted it in falling on its head. It is believed by the company that the feud will surely be solved in the near future and it will start providing flights to people from all across the world.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Strikes Loom For IAG As It Begins First Day of Trading Today

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) that was created after the merger of British Airways and Iberia made its debut today at the stock market with a valuation of £6.1 billion. IAG shares started trading at 8 a.m. in London, which is the company’s main listing. The company will also be listed in Madrid.

British Airways ended its 24 years of trading on the stock exchange. From Monday, the airline’s shares will be traded under the name of International Airlines Group.

BA and the Spanish giant Iberia will both retain its brand names as part of the deal that is supposed to make them collectively the second largest airline by value after Germany’s Lufthansa. Both the airlines are expected to benefit hugely with the merger as they are likely to save 400 million euros a year by its fifth year of collaboration. Other than that, IAG will now have more than 400 aircrafts and is expected to handle passenger travel traffic of 60 million people annually. IGA will now maintain a network of flights that will connect to more than 200 destinations around the globe.

BA and Iberia also complement each other in terms of operations and especially long-haul flights. British Airways has a major presence in North Atlantic and Iberia is a popular option between Europe and Latin America. Add to it the anti-trust immunity awarded to both the airlines as well as American Airlines for their transatlantic business.

IAG has no plans to rest as it hopes to expand further through some aggressive acquisitions in the near future including some even outside Europe. IAG’s chief executive Willie Walsh believes that the merger is going to be the perfect springboard for further growth of the company.

BA’s Cabin Crew Votes for Strike

However, everything is not hunky dory for the UK’s flag carrier as BA’s cabin crew voted overwhelming in support of another strike as the showdown between Unite and the airline continues. This could be bad news for those travellers who have already landed up with cheap tickets on flights for their Easter vacations. With long weekends of Easter and the royal wedding in April, cheap tickets on flights are indeed few and far between.

Unite’s General Secretary-designate Len McCluskey appealed to BA for negotiations and was quoted by internet sources as stating, “Surely BA management must now wake up and listen to the voice of their skilled and dedicated employees.”

However, BA refuted the union claims of majority support of the cabin crew. "Unite has lost about 2,500 cabin crew members since this dispute started, as crew have voted with their feet. Even with a smaller membership, the proportion of Unite members supporting disruption continues to fall, contrary to the union's claims,” the airline said in a statement.

British Airways insists that even in the event of strike ticket holders shall not be troubled and it will be able to operate almost normal timetables from different airports.