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

Looks a buy to me.

c
thanks, im now out of half of my position at a nice profit. i havn't checked out the website as i dont want to be influenced.i would expect a rally from this level but i could be wrong, it may turn into more than just a rally and keep going up, or it might not, it might just keep going down. i dont know so just going to sit tight for the time being.
good luck to both you and m
regards
jkd

Interim management statement

c
this is page 5. i have to confess i didnt do my homework on this thread before originally posting. i didnt read pages 1-4. maybe i should have done,maybe not, i dont like to be influenced. i hope you are not able to be either, lets stick to our guns. you are bullish, i am bearish, but i could be wrong. i am always happy to change my mind. the market will decide this for me by hitting my stop loss.
i hope you wont let me or anyone else influence you. let the market decide.
ps
i'm still bearish until my stop loss proves me wrong.
good luck to you
regards
jkd

jkd,
Longterm am very bullish on this stock,seems that the market recieved the dreadfull quartely results by marking them up slightly.
I do belive that if the merger falls through with Iberia we will see further lows,and there is bound to be strife internally as more cuts are being sought .

I continue to add as and when funds permitt,BA will survive.,having said that i became a buyer of BA after sept 11th and wish i had sold the lot @400p and got back in now.
good luck JKD.

c
this is now starting to look bullish to me, so i have now reinstated my short, with a tight stop loss. have meddled. looking now at break even on both shorts if possible,could be wrong.
regards and good luck to you.
jkd

ive been stopped out of both my shorts today. one at small loss the other at a small profit.
good luck and regards
jkd

jkd
Bad luck with your short,see the sp has risen well in percentage terms,it will fall like a stone if the IB merger fails,i pray this will not be the case.

thanks c
good luck with your holding i hope all goes well.
regards
jkd

Here's a snippet from the Blue Index blog

British Airways Weakness
April 27th, 2009

The prospect of falling victim to a further mutation of Avian Flu, namely Swine Flu sounds horrifc and conjurs up all sorts of nightmare imagery

However you feel about potentially profiting from this sort of crisis, British Airways (BAY) is potenially looking weak after negative press and pundit commentary over air travel. Blue Oar Securities Mark Brumby says, Without scare-mongering, it is worth pointing out the current outbreak of swine flu, which is centered on Mexico but which has spread to the US, is unlikely to do much to encourage travel. He adds In recent years the SARS and avian flu scares have depressed travel volumes materially. British Airways operates four flights a week to Mexico City, said this morning it is operating as normal.

Full article here
http://blog.blueindex.co.uk/2009/04/british-airways-weakness/

British Airways dives into the red
Business Financial Newswire

Flag carrier British Airways reported an operating loss of 220m, including restructuring costs of 78m, for the year to March.

The pretax loss was 401m, compared to a profit of 922m in the previous year, with fuel costs rising to nearly 3bn.

Revenue rose to 8.992bn (8.758bn - 2008) in the period.

Full year revenue was up 2.7% to just under 9bn (including 109m arising from a change in estimation basis for unused tickets). Excluding year on year exchange effects, underlying revenue was down 3.7%.

Passenger revenue rose 3.1% to 7.8bn, on capacity down 0.7%. Seat factor was down 2.1 points to 77%.

Yields, however, rose 6.7% as a result of currency impacts. At constant exchange, passenger yields were broadly flat.

The economic downturn led to a significant fall in global demand for premium travel, with IATA premium traffic down around 14% in the second half of the year. Premium traffic volume, which started to see some weakness back in August, has steadily declined in the second half in response to the economic slowdown.

Total traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, was down 3.4%. Total passengers carried fell by 4.3% to 33.1 million.

British Airways' CEO, Willie Walsh, said: 'Reduced passenger and cargo demand and high fuel prices last summer contributed to our 220m operating loss as our total fuel bill reached almost 3bn. The prolonged nature of the global downturn makes this the harshest trading environment we have ever faced and, with no immediate improvement visible, market conditions remain challenging. It is vital, therefore, that we remain absolutely committed to our plans to establish British Airways as a high-performing, market-focused, global premium airline.

'We are taking action to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis on our business. Next winter we will continue to reduce capacity by taking out 4% of flying compared to last year, parking up to 16 aircraft.

'We are taking action on non-fuel costs too. In addition to reducing external spend and not paying management bonuses, there are no base pay increases planned and we are offering staff the option of unpaid leave and temporary or permanent part time working. We are also in talks with our trade unions about pay and productivity changes. The results for the year include 78m of redundancy related costs. Since last summer, our overall manpower has fallen by more than 2,500.'

From the Blue Index blog

British Airways and the Perfect Storm
May 22nd, 2009

On April 27th I wrote about British Airways (BAY) weakness, see British Airways Weakness as regards the swine flu outbreak, but I suggested watching out for a sharp rebound in the event of positive news.

Shares did recover somewhat, but today that positive news seems a long way off, after the flagship carrier scrapped its dividend and reported a GBP358m full year net loss, against a GBP712m profit last time. Although revenues did improve by 2.7% to GBP8.76bn, BA was hit by last summers high fuel prices and a slump in passenger and cargo volumes, while net debt nearly doubled to GBP2.4bn against GBP1.3bn last time. CEO Willie Walsh said today the current conditions were the harshest we have ever faced, and added that with no immediate improvement visible, market conditions remain challenging. BA will cut further costs going forward, and merger talks with Spains Iberia, which have been going for almost a year, will still take several months to conclude.

Full transcript here
http://blog.blueindex.co.uk/2009/05/british-airways-and-the-perfect-storm/

Willie go or will he stay? When is BA going to find somebody big enough to run this business or is it the plan to dr(i)ve it into the ground?

Dear all on BAY thread...

I noted in the paper that BAY had made a cumulative 3bn pretax profit between 2002-2008 inclusive yet they only declared a dividend for last year. My question is this....Lets say tax at 33% leaves 2bn net profit, what did they spend it on?

thanks for any help

bonfield

Jetting off abroad this summer? Find out what youre entitled to if it all goes horribly wrong.


I have a friend who's been chasing a flight refund for several months now. She's come up against a barrage of re-directed calls, administrative incompetence and contradictory instructions.

In this case, the airline has actually acknowledged that the refund is due - so I can only imagine how difficult they'd make it they disputed her claim!

I've had some pretty dire experiences with delayed and cancelled flights (haven't we all?) and I'm always surprised at how little compensation customers are actually entitled to.

With many of us jetting off on holiday in the next few months, here's a guide to what you can claim if it all goes horribly wrong.

Baby steps
Under EU law, airlines are not obliged to give compensation for cancelled flights if they offer suitable alternative travel arrangements or if 'extraordinary circumstances' apply.

In the past, airlines have been accused of defining technical faults as extraordinary circumstances, to avoid having to shell out.

However, earlier this year, the European Court of Justice closed this loophole. In a new ruling, it deemed that airline passengers are now entitled to compensation when a flight is cancelled because of a technical fault.

The ruling applies to all EU-based airlines and to all airlines when operating a flight out of an EU country.

It's a baby step on the road to airlines treating customers more fairly - but at least it's one in the right direction.

Do you meet the following criteria?
The Denied Boarding Regulation (otherwise known as EC Regulation 261/2004) came into force at the beginning of 2005. In a nutshell, it offers an improved framework for people whose flights have been delayed or cancelled to claim compensation refunds and/or compensation.

For you (as the customer) to be legally protected by this regulation, the following criteria must apply:

You need to have a confirmed booking;
You need to have checked in on time;
You need to be departing from an EU airport, or from a non-EU airport and flying into an EU airport on an airline with its headquarters and main place of business within the EU.
Assuming that you meet all these criteria, here's what you're entitled to:

If your flight is delayed
Sadly, you probably won't be entitled to financial compensation. What you can claim depends on how long you're kept waiting, and how far you're travelling.

There are four main 'time + distance' categories defined:

A flight under 932 miles which is delayed for more than two hours;
A flight within the EU which is longer than 932 miles, and which is delayed by more than three hours;
A flight which isn't within the EU, which is between 932 and 2174 miles, and which is delayed by more than three hours;
Any other flight which is delayed by more than four hours.
If your delay falls into any of these categories, here's what you're entitled to:

Two free phone calls, faxes or e-mails;
Free meals and refreshments appropriate to the delay.
That's it. Not great, eh? And of course, 'appropriate to the delay' is a very subjective and foggy concept.

If you're delayed overnight, the airline must also put you up in hotel accommodation - and provide the transport for you to get there and back.

And finally, if you're delayed for more than five hours, you can decide not to travel at all, and get a refund. I think that's pretty poor consolation for a wasted day and no holiday, personally.

If your flight is cancelled
If your flight is cancelled after you've arrived at the airport, you should be offered a choice of the following:

A refund of the full cost of the flight, within seven days;
A re-routed journey to your final destination at the earliest opportunity;
A re-routed journey to your final destination at a later date convenient to you.
As you can imagine, that 'earliest opportunity' is another grey area and inevitably introduces another set of frustrating variables.

The compensation conundrum
Even if your flight is cancelled at the last minute, you're not necessarily entitled to compensation.

Simply put, you don't have a right to compensation if you're offered the chance to re-route on a flight that leaves no more than one hour before the original flight and is scheduled to arrive no more than two hours after the original flight.

And of course, there are those 'extraordinary circumstances' to contend with. You're not entitled to compensation if the airline can show that the cancellation was caused by 'extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures have been taken'.

In plain English, this could mean anything from snow and political instability to terror alerts and strike action.

How do I make a claim?
If you are entitled to compensation, the specific amount will depend on the distance you were intending to travel, and the suitability of any alternative flight you're offered.

For a breakdown of the sums involved, have a look at this Which? Advice page on how much you can claim.

If you decide to pursue the matter, the how to make a claim section also suggests the action to take, and includes some useful template letters to get things started.

Unfortunately, I can't cover every eventuality in a single article. For example, slightly different rules apply to flights that have been overbooked - and flights that are cancelled more than seven days in advance.

BA in a tailspin "fighting for survival" according to "wee willie".Is this the beginning of the end of BA as we know it?

Halifax, I think BA will be a VERY STRONG SELL now at 136p.

i'm buying the company tomorrow then, lol

williw walsh sounds terrible on tv when he appears.......how come so many huge companies have wallies as chief executives etc

British Airways unions reject 'no pay' call

Have you bought BAY yet, marni, or is this just talk as usual?