news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

The chaotic opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 last month led to British Airways’ worst April since the start of the Iraq war. Yesterday the airline said that passenger numbers had fallen by 7.9 per cent, or 221,000 people, to 2.5 million after the problematic opening of the £4.3 billion terminal.

The British flag carrier was forced to cancel more than 430 flights and lost about 20,000 pieces of luggage as it moved into its new home at T5. The negative publicity and cancelled flights are thought to have contributed substantially to the fall in passenger numbers during the month.

This particularly affected BA’s UK and European operations, which were the first to move into T5. Short-haul passenger numbers fell 8.5 per cent last month and BA’s aircraft were operating at only 70 per cent of capacity.

source: Times onLine

Two disgruntled British Airways passengers have heaped more embarrassment on the airline by a posting a musical video mocking Terminal 5 on the internet.

Tim Soong turned to satire after BA managed to wreck his wedding plans by losing his luggage, leaving he and his best man, Andy Baynes, without their suits. His fiancée, Sokha Nhim, was also left minus her dress.

The video they made about the airline has become a runaway success on the video-sharing website YouTube and the song, which is likely to be released as a single, is getting repeated plays on London radio stations.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh admitted today that moving the airline’s long-haul flights to Heathrow’s Terminal 5 on April 30 would be an “‘unnecessary risk'”, as BA drew fierce criticism from airlines by postponing the transfer until June.

Walsh, who has rejected calls to resign over the T5 fiasco, said the carrier and Heathrow owner BAA had made a “‘pragmatic'” decision in waiting until problems with the building and baggage handling operations are solved. Other airlines are expected to seek compensation over the delay with BMI, Heathrow’s second largest carrier, slamming the decision as “‘outrageous'” and claiming it had been taken without consulting other airlines.

source: guardian.co.uk

Terminal 5 was supposed to be the saving grace for British Airways and London Heathrow, one of the most congested airports in Europe. Instead, as the glitzy new terminal enters its second week, passengers are bracing for more chaos.British Airways canceled another 54 flights at the new terminal Monday as it struggled with the computerized baggage-handling system that has already led to at least 15,000 pieces of misdirected baggage. The airline, which has canceled more than 250 flights since the gleaming terminal opened Thursday as its main hub, said Monday that the situation was improving daily and that it hoped to fly at full capacity again soon.

But the disruptions, which are set to last for at least the rest of this week, could not come at a worse time for British Airways, which had enjoyed a turnaround under its chief executive, Willie Walsh, who cut jobs and focused on the more lucrative premium travel business between the United States and Britain.

source: International Herald Tribune

British Airways travellers face more disruption this weekend as the airline continues to struggle to overcome problems at its showpiece £4.3bn Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

The company plans to cancel 54 flights on Saturday, on top of the 140 eliminated in the past two days since Thursday’s disastrous opening of T5, which saw thousands of bags lost and some passengers forced to sleep in the terminal overnight.

The chaos forced BA to pull a multi-million pound advertising campaign planned for next week that would have trumpeted the speed at which travellers should be able to move through the airport and collect their baggage.

source: FT.com

British Airways has confirmed it is continuing to consider a potential bid for Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana.

A BA spokesman said the UK flag carrier was keeping the possibility of a bid for Iberia ”under review” following a report in which BA chief executive Willie Walsh said he had not ruled out an approach for the Spanish flag carrier.

BA is particularly interested in Iberia because a tie-up would give it greater access to South America, a region to which it only runs 10 flights a week from Heathrow.

source: Forbes

British Airways is looking to use European competition law and a threat to seek “‘unlimited damages’” against the UK pilots’ union in order to stop them going on strike.

An overwhelming majority of BA’s 3,200 pilots voted last month in favour of taking strike action over BA’s plans to set up OpenSkies, a new airline subsidiary, with a pilot workforce separate to its mainline operations, which fly to and from Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Conciliation talks aimed at resolving the bitter dispute over future pilot staffing at BA subsidiary airlines in Europe collapsed on Friday.

Balpa, the pilots’ union, had planned to issue dates for its first strikes, which would ground the airline, but was forced to postpone the move when BA warned the union it had “‘a valid legal claim’” against it, if it “‘took the disproportionate step of calling a strike’”.

source: FT.com

OpenSkies, the new airline launched by British Airways to operate direct services from Europe to the US, intends to launch its first services on the route between Paris and New York JFK.

The airline has this week applied to the US authorities for approval for the services and says it intends to launch the new flights in June.

In documents filed with the US Department of Transportation, the airline says it intends to expand its services to connect Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan with New York as well as other US points.

source: Times On Line

BA’s performance deteriorated in 2007, with a larger proportion of bags failing to reach destinations with their owners.

BA mislaid 26.5 bags for every 1,000 passengers it carried last year, compared to 23 in 2006, the Association of European Airlines. (AEA) reports.

fuente: Telegraph.co.uk

British Airways PLC will be unveiled as the official airline of the London 2012 Olympics next week in a deal worth some 50 mln stg, reported Marketing magazine.

The report said BA, which ended its sponsorship of the London Eye earlier this month, will now focus on becoming an official tier-one partner for the London Olympics along with Lloyds TSB Group, Adidas and EDF Energy.

source: Forbes