Recent problems with the new T5 Terminal at Heathrow have resulted in more problems for BA when will they recover their No1 position.

wow,,,nice rise 245

BA Concludes Union Talks On Defined Benefit Pension Schemes
LONDON (Dow Jones)

British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) Tuesday concluded talks with its joint trade unions on the future benefits of its defined pension schemes, marking a step toward tackling its GBP3.7 billion pension deficit before needing to present a recovery plan to the regulator by June 30.

The U.K. airline said its main proposal will see New Airways Pension Scheme members opting to pay an extra 4.5% to maintain their existing pension benefits, adding that there will be a mechanism in place to offset the impact of contributions. Alternatively, members can receive lower future benefits.

The joint trade unions are British Airline Pilots' Association, GMB and Unite.

"This is an important step forward in the process of addressing the pension deficits which the trade unions will be recommending to their members," BA said. "The new benefit structure will be proposed to the trustees and form part of the negotiations toward a recovery plan that is expected to be presented to the pensions regulator by June 30."

It said the proposals are intended to avoid the closure of the pension schemes and maintain BA's contributions at GBP330 million a year.

I notice the share price started to spike an hour before the RNS.

i dithered and didn't this morning .... never mind

BA resuming normal flights service after strike

British Airways is trying to resume normal services following the end of a three-day strike by cabin crew.

The airline says it has reinstated a number of flights over the next four days that were previously cancelled.

BA is reviewing its schedule for a strike between 27 and 30 March which is again about pay and condition changes.

No further talks to resolve the dispute are planned ahead of the next walkout, but unions have challenged BA chief Willie Walsh to return to negotiations.

the unions will be well stuffed at the end of the day - and a damned good job too!
shame i sold out of these at about 200, but you can't hold/win 'em all

Broker note today from Olivetree Securities:
"BA announced that the estimated impact from the strike is 7m a day but earnings expectations to 31st March 2010 will remain unchanged. This is due to a more limited disruption (over the 1st 2 days, the airline operated 78% of its longhaul flights and 50% of its shorthaul flights). Also, having analyzed the stoxx 600, we founds BAY in the top 10 of biggest decrease in weekly short base last week. Its short base has come down by 0.6% last week. It still has 31.75% of shares outstanding on loan and above 95% of the lending pool is actually being borrowed. There are c44days to cover.
COMMENT Guidance being unchanged despite the strike is encouraging. We continue to believe that BAY has a high risk of short squeeze as the positive catalysts unfold (merger with Iberia, JV with AA, pension deficit agreement, traffic pick up and end of strike). We stay long the stock."

Surprised no-one has commented - 2nd day of no UK-flights, due to the ash in the upper atmosphere ( from Iceland's volcano - huh!).
What will this do to BAY's position, presumably Airport Taxes will be saved, but then the passengers will go by rail, if they can. Some believe this ash may hang about for some while, maybe over 1-year, should the seismics get worse.

Add today's news that US-Goldman Sachs (Wall Street), is to be prosecuted for fraud (DYOR). . . . . . . . and we are staring at major changes in the City of London . . . . plus the Election (sush!_).

....Crikey....what next?

what it means is that those living near a flight path will get a good nights sleep for a change!

that has been so for the last few days and will continue until at least monday

Short the crap out of RYA (Ryanair) imo ...

All of them ....

Looks like a good short...along with any of the northern european operators.....I never buy these stocks...too unreliable....

Mind the gap!

Willie now has a volcano to blamehe is so unlucky after it lay dormant for almost 200 yearsand you think it would put itself out in Iceland?those naughty union people must not laugh
You have to have balls to hold these?be surprised to see it hold 2 this week

from reading further reports, i suspect that an mo will be found whereby the airlines can operate genuinely safely, but how quickly that can be implemented remains to be seen .... don't forget, it is economically vital that some sort of solution is found, as the problem has worldwide implications

BA says Icelandic volcano costing 15m- 20m a day
Business Financial Newswire
British Airways estimates that the lost passenger and freight revenue together with the costs incurred on supporting passengers as a result of the Icelandic volanic eruption is approximately 15-20m a day.

The company says it has significant funding available to it to sustain a considerable period of closure of the UK's airspace.

At the start of the flying restrictions on April 14, 2010 it had more than 1.7bn cash and more than 400m available credit lines which it can draw on if necessary.

Chief Executive Willie Walsh adds that British Airways is one of European airlines to have asked the EU and national governments for financial compensation for the closure of airspace.

He says there is a precedent for this to happen as compensation was paid after the closure of US airspace following the terrorist events of 9/11 and clearly the impact of the current situation is more considerable.

Walsh says: "We welcome the EU's initiative to address the economic consequences of the airspace closure on the air travel industry and the wider European economy.

"We are also in touch with the UK government which has set up a group to work on this issue as it recognises the impact on airlines and the contribution that aviation makes to the British economy."

So BA reckon the volcano is costing them 15ml + a daythey might have 1.7bn cashbut a couple of months could make a mighty hole in that
I wonder if the union will see their bargaining position could be a great deal strongeraccording to an expert volcanologist the eruption continues with its current explosive vigour. So long as an ash column rises nearly 10km high, it will be problematic. The volcano could continue erupting for months according to scientists?.Willie Walsh denied trying to brake the union Unite.I expect Unite will now deny trying to brake him at a latter dateI know who looks stronger now!down 10.5p and still falling.thats what you get for being an arrogant sh*t!.

disagree ..... like him or not WW is absolutely right in this instance ..... BA staff seriously o'paid compared to all other airlines

Cynic and so is Willie Walsh.the man is a sh*this uncompromising leadership does not include personal participation to help the companysome of his achievements lol :- British Airways has been fined about 270m after it admitted collusion in fixing the prices of fuel surcharges.British Airways has plunged to a record pre-tax loss of 292mWillie Walsh warned BA's 38,690 staff that the airline's worst first half results since privatisationBA said it intends to cut a further 3,000 jobs over the next six months Willie Walsh in BA's annual report show his 700,000 basic salary will increase to 735,000 next month and could add a bonus of over 1millionfor Slashing BA to short-term profit giving him imaginary success force your staff with redundancy threats and whose workloads you have doubled and salaries you have frozenUsher in new low-paid poorly skilled staff who have no respect for the company down goes quality down goes the reputation... up go the complaints the birth of another rubbish companyits all there Cynicand he has done it before