London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: Heathrow)
British Airways has introduced a flexible rebooking policy for passengers due to return the UK after the introduction of a mandatory quarantine period on passengers arriving in the UK.
The UK government has announced a mandatory 14 quarantine period on all passengers arriving in the UK from Monday 8 June. Full details, including exemptions for transit passengers, are on the UK government website.
Any passenger who is mid-journey and due to return to the UK on a BA operated flight between 8 June and Sunday 28 June 2020 can rebook on to an alternative BA flight from Wednesday 27 May to Sunday 7 June 2020.
Of course, BA schedules are extremely limited at the moment. The airline is operating a small number of long-haul flights at London Heathrow Terminal 5 to key US destinations such as Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, New York JFK and Washington Dulles. If you are due to return from another airport in North America, you should be able to return via an airport where flights are operating. Short-haul schedules are also significantly reduced.
Passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA if they need to change their booking. If your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund.
Charleston, South Carolina (Image Credit: Charleston)
British Airways has suspended its summer seasonal long-haul routes from London Heathrow to Calgary and Charleston for 2020.
These routes were due to operate until October 2020. Both Calgary and Charleston are currently scheduled to resume from Sunday 28 March 2021. This is of course subject to change.
BA has also delayed the planned launch of its new route from London Heathrow to Portland, Oregon from Monday 1 June to Wednesday 2 September 2020 at the earliest.
Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are entitled to a full refund. You will need to call BA to secure this. You can check the status of your booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com. If you cancel your flight through ba.com you will be given a voucher which can be exchanged for travel up to and including 30 April 2022.
British Airways is currently offering vouchers to passengers whose flights have been cancelled, or who do not wish to travel, due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
In addition, passengers making new bookings up to Friday 31 July 2020 for travel up to Thursday 31 December 2020 also have the option to exchange the value of the ticket for a voucher.
These can be exchanged for travel on flights carrying a BA flight number up to and including 30 April 2022. Full details of these policies, which are regularly updated, are on ba.com
Initially, vouchers could not be used on either of BA’s franchise partners, Comair and Sun-Air. In the case of Comair this was particularly frustrating given its network in Africa.
Comair’s hub is based in Johannesburg and domestic destinations include Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Other destinations include Harare, Livingstone, Mauritius, Victoria Falls and Windhoek.
BA has today, Wednesday 20 May 2020, updated its guidance and Comair is no longer excluded.
Comair has suspended operations and does not expect to resume flights until the autumn. The airline is in a “business rescue” process whereby it will undergo a financial restructuring. A business rescue plan will be published for approval by its creditors in June. The underlying business is considered by the business rescue practitioners to be fundamentally sound, so the airline is expected to resume operations. It is not known whether this will have an impact on its franchise agreement with BA. Though BA continues to sell flights operated by Comair. It seems implausible that in the event of restructuring there won’t be some form of ongoing partnership between the two airlines.
British Airways Airbus A350-1000 Club Suite (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has introduced a new flexible booking policy for its corporate customers and members of its “On Business” loyalty programme for small and medium-sized businesses.
The airline currently has a “book with confidence” policy. This applies to all new bookings made up to Friday 31 July 2020 for travel up to Thursday 31 December 2020, whereby any change fees will be waived.
BA is also allowing all passengers due to travel up to 31 July 2020 to exchange the value of their ticket for a voucher for travel up to 30 April 2022. Full details of these policies are available on ba.com
Free Name Change for Corporate and On Business Bookings
BA has added a new policy for corporate customers and members of its On Business loyalty programme for small and medium-sized businesses.
For the avoidance of doubt, a corporate customer is one travelling on behalf of an organisation which has a specifically negotiated deal with the airline, rather than business travellers in general. These bookings have a specific identifier for the corporate customer.
BA now allows one free change of name for all existing Corporate and On Business bookings (excluding codeshares) ticketed before Thursday 14 May 2020 for travel up to Wednesday 30 September 2020.
It also applies to new bookings made between 14 May 2020 and 31 July 2020 for travel to be completed by 31 December 2020.
London Heathrow Terminal 5 Check-In Concourse (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has extended its “book with confidence” policy for new flight bookings.
Passengers who have made bookings since 3 March 2020 for travel up to Thursday 31 December 2020 have the flexibility to change their bookings without incurring a change fee, or to exchange the value of their ticket for future travel up to 30 April 2022.
This policy was due to end on Sunday 31 May 2020. It has now been extended to all new bookings made up to Friday 31 July 2020.
Separate to this, all passengers due to travel up to 31 July 2020 already have the option to exchange the value of their ticket for a voucher for future travel up to 30 April 2022. This applies regardless of when the booking was made.
American Eagle & British Airways, Miami (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority has opened a consultation on proposals by American Airlines and British Airways to address competition concerns about their transatlantic joint business.
If accepted American and BA would have to make slots available to rival airlines on routes from London to Boston, Dallas and Miami.
American Airlines & BA’s Transatlantic Joint Business
Since 2010, American Airlines and British Airways have operated a transatlantic joint business on routes between Europe and North America.
This allows the two airlines to effectively operate as one airline and co-ordinate schedules and fares on transatlantic routes.
The joint business is seen as advantageous because it allows American and BA to offer high frequencies on major routes, which is particularly attractive to business travellers. More marginal routes can be supported by access to each other’s corporate and frequent flyers.
Finnair and Iberia are also part of the joint business. Aer Lingus is a signatory to the business and is due to join at some point in the future.
Regulatory approval was granted by the European Commission and US Department of Transportation on American and BA’s third attempt. This was in spite of fierce opposition from Virgin Atlantic, which has subsequently joined its own joint business with Delta and Air France-KLM. The European Commission’s original decision can be viewed here.
As a condition of regulatory approval, American and BA had to make slots available to new entrants on five routes from London to Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and New York. These “commitments” were for a period ten years.
These slots have been taken up by Delta, Norwegian and Virgin Atlantic. One slot acquired by Delta, initially for London Heathrow to Philadelphia, is subject to litigation by American Airlines.
The Competition & Markets Authority Review
In 2018, the Competition & Markets Authority opened up a review of the joint-business.
This was in light of the expiry of the above commitments and the UK’s then planned departure from the European Union.
The review has taken considerably longer than expected. This, given with the fact that the CMA has adopted a very interventionist approach in cases outside of aviation, has caused speculation that the CMA would take a very tough line.
It is also a given that there will have been intense lobbying from rival airlines against the joint business, particularly from JetBlue which had planned to launch flights from London to Boston and New York JFK.
The CMA has published its full findings. It has identified competition concerns on five routes from London to Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Philadelphia.
American and BA have a monopoly on non-stop routes from London to Dallas and Philadelphia and a high frequency advantage on Boston and Miami.
British Airways Boeing 747 G-BNLY “City Of Swansea”, Dublin (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways plans a “meaningful” return to normal flight schedules in July.
Its parent company IAG has given an update on its plans for the rest of the year at the presentation of its first quarter results.
Overall, the group is in a relatively strong financial position with €6.4 billion of cash and €3.6 billion of available credit facilities as at 30 April 2020. It is inevitably reducing its fleet and schedules, but less so than many other airlines.
Flight Schedules
Overall, IAG airlines will operate reduce planned capacity by 55% in the third quarter of this year, and 30% in the final quarter of this year.
This is significantly less than Air France-KLM which is expects to reduce capacity by 80% in the third quarter.
IAG is undertaking research of both leisure and corporate passengers as to what will encourage passengers to start flying again.
Whilst IAG supports measures such as temperature checks at airports and the wearing of face masks, it does not plan to introduce social distancing measures on aircraft such as the blocking of middle seats.
On the question of BA’s long-term presence at Gatwick, this appears to be dependent on the outcome of the planned restructuring of BA, as referred to below. Other than Gatwick, nothing was specifically said about the medium-term impact of COVID-19 on BA’s route network.
It will take time to rebuild schedules as many aircraft have been stored at airports away from BA facilities and will need to undergo maintenance checks before they return to service.
British Airways Fleet Changes
As expected, BA is to accelerate the retirement of aircraft and defer the delivery of new aircraft.
BA is to accelerate the planned retirement of two Boeing 747 aircraft in 2020. It had originally planned to reduce its Boeing 747 fleet from 31 to 25 by the end of the year.
BA had planned to retire its last Boeing 747 aircraft in February 2024. However, this may be brought forward. Please see here for IAG’s plans at its last Capital Markets Day and here for BA’s fleet plans at the start of the year.
Interestingly, nothing was said about the Airbus A380 which is a relatively poor performer in the current climate due to its high passenger capacity and low cargo capacity.
IAG Fleet Plan May 2020 (Image Credit: International Airlines Group)
At an IAG level, the group plans to defer the delivery of 68 aircraft between now and 2022. This includes 11 long-haul aircraft and 57 short-haul aircraft – this does not affect IAG’s Letter of Intent to acquire the Boeing 737 MAX which remains in place. The reason why relatively few long-haul aircraft are being deferred appears to be because they are already financed.
IAG will also return 20 leased in aircraft in 2020 and has the flexibility to return up to 96 leased aircraft in 2021 and 2022. This could include some leased Boeing 777 aircraft at BA.
Aircraft Seating Changes
British Airways is also looking at the seating configuration of aircraft.
This will affect which existing aircraft are selected for retirement and how new aircraft are configured.
Some BA long-haul aircraft have relatively very high densities of business class seating, with up to 86 Club World seats on some Boeing 747 aircraft.
BA had also planned to take delivery of some Airbus A350-1000 by 2022 and 18 Boeing 777-9 aircraft with First Class by 2023.
BA is also looking to convert some Boeing 777 passenger aircraft into cargo-only aircraft.
British Airways Restructuring
As was announced in late April, BA is in consultation with its trade unions about a restructuring at the airline which could lead to up to 12,000 job cuts.
This will last a minimum of 45 days. There has been speculation as to BA’s motives in this and questions as to why IAG has not raised funds from the UK Government’s Coronavirus Corporate Finance Facility (CCFF). IAG has in fact raised £300m from this facility, which it says is the maximum available to it.
As is standard practice, IAG declines to give a running commentary whilst negotiations with trade unions are underway. However, IAG has said it is not the case that BA has been singled out for restructuring. Restructuring will take place across all IAG airlines. The specific BA announcement was made due the requirements of UK employment legislation. It intends to comply with UK employment legislation and reach an agreement with its trade unions.
However, Willie Walsh did not leave anyone in any doubt that he considers a period of significantly reduced demand over the next few years will necessitate a restructuring by all airlines in the industry. As we have already seen at Norwegian and Virgin Atlantic, this will mean substantial job cuts and, for BA, changes to working practices.
On the question of state support, whilst IAG supports the use of general government measures to support businesses when in a situation through no fault of their own, it does not support specific bailouts for poorly performing airlines.
British Airways and Qatar Airways have received final approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) to operate a joint-business in respect of flights between certain cities in Europe and Australia.
You could be forgiven for thinking the two airlines already had such a joint business for Australia, but that is not the case.
Whilst BA and Qatar have operated a joint business for some years, this only currently covers flights from the UK to Doha, and many destinations beyond Doha in Africa and Asia.
BA and Qatar have operated a codeshare for many UK – Australia routings such as Manchester – Doha – Melbourne or Cardiff – Doha – Perth which can be booked through BA as a codeshare.
The approval from the ACCC will allow BA and Qatar to take this beyond a codeshare and co-ordinate schedules and fares on a number of routes from Western Europe via Doha to certain cities in Australia which are Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth.
London – Sydney is not included in the joint business as BA serves this with its own aircraft, at least for now. Approval was sought before the outbreak of COVID-19, which is likely to have a significant impact on BA’s route network and timetable in the medium term.
Regulatory approval will take effect from 29 May 2020 and will last until 29 May 2025.
Whilst in theory regulatory approval allows BA and Qatar to co-ordinate schedules on these routes, it is unlikely we would see BA flying to Australia via Doha. The main driver behind this is for BA to take advantage of Qatar’s network to Australia from Europe and for Qatar to take advantage of BA’s distribution network.
The new joint business does not seem to disturb BA’s existing codeshares to Australia via Asia with Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Qantas.
Comair Boeing 737 Aircraft Matazo Kayama “Waves And Cranes” Project Utopia Livery (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways’ franchise partner in Africa, Comair, has entered a Business Rescue Process.
This is a formal restructuring process, similar to Chapter 11 in the United States. Business Rescue Practitioners have been appointed to oversee the running of the company and a restructuring, with the aim of avoiding a liquidation.
Originally founded in 1946, Comair also operates the airline brand Kulula and SLOW lounges in Africa. Its airlines are currently grounded and it does not expect to resume operations until October 2020 at the earliest.
British Airways owns a 11.49% stake in Comair. It became a BA franchise in 1996. It operates routes to destinations in South Africa, Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe from its main hub at Johannesburg with a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft.
The BA franchise is clearly very important to BA’s brand presence in South Africa and providing connecting traffic to and from BA’s long-haul routes to London. Comair is one of two remaining BA franchise partners. The other being SUN-AIR of Scandinavia.
Comair’s state owned rival South African Airways is expected to be liquidated with a new airline formed.
Comair has issued the following statement. Note the comment from its CEO Wrenelle Stander about reviewing joint-ventures. Whilst Comair’s BA franchise is highly regarded, it is of course at liberty to end its franchise agreement with BA.
New York Skyline (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
This is one to file under “Not sure how long this has been running, but only just noticed it”.
British Airways’ “Reward Flight Savers” have long been a popular means for members of the Executive Club to redeem Avios on short-haul flights.
Prior to their introduction, redeeming Avios on short-haul flights was considered practically worthless. This was because the taxes and fees were so high, you might as well just purchase a cash ticket with the benefit of earning Avios instead of spending it.
Under a Reward Flight Saver a passenger redeeming Avios on a short-haul flights simply pays a flat cash fee from £1 upwards with any taxes, fees and surcharges borne by BA.
It instantly transformed a short-haul redemption flight from one of the worst to one of the best uses of Avios.
Long-haul economy redemptions have been considered similarly poor value because again, taxes fees and surcharges represent an increasingly high proportion of the overall ticket price.
As you can see from the screen shot below, an off-peak economy long-haul redemption from London Heathrow to Boston costs a minimum of £226.35 in taxes and surcharges and 26,000 in Avios. A cash ticket for the same flights with checked luggage would cost around £385 and earn Avios.
British Airways Economy Redemption London Heathrow – Boston
Reward Flight Savers To New York JFK
BA has now extended the Reward Flight Saver concept to long-haul economy flights.
At present, it only applies to BA operated flights to New York JFK. It is also only available to UK based members of the Executive Club.
