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Welcome to our Monday Briefing for the week beginning 15 July 2019.
The Monday Briefing Takes A Summer Break
This will be the last Monday Briefing for a few weeks as it takes a break for the summer.
Does this mean a quiet summer? Not at all. Next week we begin a special series for the summer which will run until late August.
The Monday Briefing will return on 2 September 2019. We will of course report any major stories throughout the week as normal.
In terms of things to be looking out for over the next few weeks:
This coming Saturday, 20 July 2019, the Red Arrows will perform a fly past with a BA 747 in BOAC livery at the Royal International Tattoo.
Next Monday, 22 July 2019, BALPA’s ballot for industrial action at BA closes. It is likely that BALPA will announce its intentions immediately after the result of the ballot is known.
BA’s first Airbus A350-1000, G-XWBA, is expected to arrive at London Heathrow next week and we should see the first official pictures of the actual cabin interior.
Milan Linate airport will close for three months from Saturday 27 July 2019. Alitalia will transfer all Linate routes to Milan Malpensa. BA will also operate from London City to Milan Malpensa.
International Airlines Group announces its half-year results on Friday 2 August 2019. Given last week’s announcement that the Information Commissioner’s Office intends to fine BA £183m, Willie Walsh no doubt has a lot say about the matter but given a pending appeal and numerous group litigation actions, he may have to bite his tongue.
Qantas announces its annual results on Thursday 22 August 2019. Qantas usually has something to announce with its annual results. Whilst this may be too soon for a final announcement on whether it will place an order for aircraft to fly non-stop from London to Sydney and Melbourne, we should at least learn of the project’s progress.
Also of note this week:
Bloomberg catches a brief interview with Willie Walsh. (Bloomberg)
Cathay Pacific (a member of Oneworld) announces it is to codeshare with Lufthansa and SWISS (members of Star Alliance) on each other’s flights between Germany, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Cathay also has a codeshare with Air New Zealand and this points to more signs of airline adopting an a la carte approach to alliance & non-alliance relationships. (Cathay Pacific)
The Civil Aviation Authority opens a consultation on the cost of the third runway at London Heathrow. (CAA)
The FT’s Michael Skapinker proposes limits on alcohol consumption at airports and on aircraft. It has not gone down well with FT readers. It has be said that, as tempting as it is to reach for the bottle to numb the pain of air travel, you are infinitely better off staying away from alcohol. There is of course nothing wrong with enjoying fine wines and champagnes, but this is best done at a vineyard, not in a pressurised fuselage. (Financial Times)
KLM on flying in the 1950s. (KLM)
Virgin Australia confirms that Affinity Equity Partners which owns 35% of its Velocity frequent flyer programme wishes to sell down its stake. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Late post publication updates:
[Reserved for updates throughout the day]
Passport control gate failures cause significant queues and delays at Australian airports. (ABC News)
The Monday Briefing returns on 2 September. Join us next Monday 22 July, for the launch of a special series in the summer. You can always get in touch by dropping an e-mail to [mail @ londonairtravel.com]
Star of the hit series Suits, Rick Hoffman is one of the stars of Air New Zealand’s latest safety video, which has just been released.
The new video is the latest in a long series of safety videos that usually hit the headlines, but sometimes for the wrong reasons. The airline’s last video was pulled after negative feedback. The airline front footed the negative feedback by releasing a mock job advertisement for a new head of safety videos. 😅😂🤣