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

i take it you are current or former BA employee

CynicI get a nose bleed within ten mile of an airportI am scared of planesand have never flownluckily Im driving to the SOF beginning of Maythe channel tunnel hopefullywill be free of ash

Willie Walsh went to a school that taught him to take what he can getwhile he can get itand that is the limit of his educationI can talk?

where in SoF? .... i am a fan of provence and have taken a villa in Roussillon (near Gordes) ..... usually take on in Maussanne

La Napoulewhich is about 3-4 miles along the coast from Canneswe have stayed at Mouginsand Theoule-Sur-Mar beforejust the most beautiful places in the Worldand a nice race trackHippodrome at Cagnes-sur-Mer I didnt think you like that coast Cynichad this conversation with you beforeI believe?we love the coastal drive from La Lavandu to Menton just mind blowing

mougins is just about ok, but doesn't do much for me, but cannes is vile - like blackpool on a bad day and its much-hyped covered market a load of rubbish ..... from cagnes and east towards italy becomes much nicer - villefranche is lovely for lunch, even if very touristy

Cynicwe have French friends that enjoy their food same as uswe mix genteel with the occasional partyCannes is fantastic in the eveningespecially during the festival.but does have a MacDonalds and many crass novelty shopsas well as very many expensive and exclusive shopsyou pick your time and placeI do know a place that you would lovewon village of the year a least oncestill in Provence.Bormes-Les-Mimoses...high upit is like walking round a kaleidoscope of colourwith Bougainvillea cascading everywhere who gives a sh*t about Willie Walsh!

scarcely provence that place! .... surely more alpes maritime, but as you say, it's up in the hills and certainly once you get away from the coastal drag, it really is lovely .... good walking up there too by the looks of it

Cynicit is Provencethe spelling is Bormes-Les-MimosasWestern end of the Massif des Maures.. high up but fairly close to the coast

Hopes rise of easing Europe flight chaos

Airspace in Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England is due to reopen on Tuesday after days of travel chaos caused by a volcanic ash cloud.

tabby - i know exactly where it is; just surprised that was classed as provence - very pedantic of me!

BA strike: Ban lifted by High Court

Fresh BA strikes look set to go ahead after a panel of senior judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, overturned a ban on industrial action.

BA posts record 531m loss


British Airways woes continue as the strike-bound airline has posted a record loss before tax of 531m for the year to 31 March 2010 ( 2009 Loss 401m).

Revenue was down 1 billion to 7,994m (2009: 8,992m) and although fuel costs were 597m lower and other operating costs were down 390m, this was a second consecutive year of record losses.

Group revenue in Q 4 was down 4.7 per cent to just under 1.9bn with operating costs down 11.4 per cent to 2bn. This resulted in an operating loss for the quarter of 145m, an improvement of 164m from quarter 4 in the previous year.

I guess Derek is on twitter :-)

British Airways, Unite Enter Latest Round Of Talks
By Kaveri Niththyananthan

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON (Dow Jones)

British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) and Unite, the union representing cabin crew, resumed talks Friday in their latest attempt to come to an agreement and end strikes that have hit the U.K. airline.

Derek Simpson, Unite's joint general secretary will be negotiating on behalf of cabin crew but BA declined to comment on whether its Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh would be taking part.

Discussions are taking place at a secret location to avoid a repeat of last weekend's events, when protesters stormed a building and forced both sides to shelve talks.

BA and Unite have been in dispute for 15 months over changes to working practices and tensions flared recently after the carrier removed travel perks for those cabin crew who joined the picket lines. Cabin crew Friday entered the final day of the first of three planned five-day stoppages.

had an interesting chat with the cabin steward on my last flight ...... inter alia, though he would not strike, he knew that it was quite possible that he would be personally targetted (at home) for abuse ..... he also said that though staff did not have to join the union, it was quite difficult not to, not least because when you join BA there are swathes of paper to be signed, and in this instance, (i'ld guess) you probably have to actively opt out

bet he was queer as well want he :-)

I thought Cameron and his gang were going to sort this little problem out.

Where is this strong government going?

Why should Cameron interfere in the running of a private sector company, does he want to make a fool of himself like Obama has by interferring with insulting remarks about BP and its management.

British Airways Gets EU Approval For Transatlantic Joint Business

Today : Wednesday 14 July 2010
British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) said Wednesday it along with American Airlines and Iberia have received final regulatory approval from the European Commission Wednesday to enter into a joint business agreement on transatlantic flights.

MAIN FACTS:

-The airlines anticipate that they will receive the final decision on transatlantic anti-trust immunity from the U.S. Department of Transportation shortly.

-All the three airlines have agreed to make available Heathrow slot pairs for their competitors to use on services to the U.S.; The slot commitments provide a further guarantee that there will be no possible loss of competition as a result of the joint business.

-The slots will be made available if competitor airlines are unable to acquire them through the normal process; The London-New York slots will only have to be made available if the number of services on the route drops below the currently announced levels.

-The airlines plan to launch the transatlantic joint business this autumn.

Unite plans to take BA to court over travel concessions

The Unite union says it is planning legal action against British Airways over the removal of travel concessions from cabin crew who went on strike.

Unite, which represents 11,000 cabin crew at the airline, said the management's action was a breach of European Human rights legislation.

It also believes the concessions were withdrawn without proper disciplinary procedures being followed.

The move follows the union's rejection last week of BA's "final" offer.

BA said it had acted properly in withdrawing the benefit.

"Staff travel is a non-contractual perk that the company can withdraw at its discretion," the firm said in a statement.

Interim Results.

Period highlights:



Profit before tax of 158 million (2009: loss of 292 million)

Revenue up 345 million due to improved yields

Costs down 1.5 per cent

Operating profit of 298 million (2009: loss of 111 million)

Quarter 2 operating profit of 370 million (2009: loss of 17 million)