China Airlines launch Taiwan service

China Airlines has launched its first ever passenger service from Taipei to London  – the first time that the UK has been connected by a non-stop service to Taiwan.
Carrying 276 passengers including China Airlines Chairman Philip Wei, President Hung Hsiung Sun and various VIP guests, the A340-300 aircraft arrived at Heathrow to a water cannon salute and official welcome from BAA senior management.
Greeting passengers, VIP guests and media in London Heathrow’s Terminal 4 prior to the return flight from London to Taipei Taoyuan Airport at 21.15, Chairman Philip Wei presided over the official flight inauguration with a ribbon and cake cutting ceremony.
“The latest addition to the China Airlines network highlights our commitment to the UK market, and our ongoing work to strengthen Taiwan’s position as one of Asia and the Pacific’s leading aviation hubs. China Airlines is proud to play a part in promoting further growth by adding the UK as our latest destination”, he told guests.
The thrice-weekly flights departing Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday will be operated with an Airbus A340-300 aircraft, with 30 seats in business class and 246 in economy.
The addition of the London route sees China Airlines serve five European destinations in Europe, with a total of 21 flights per week between Taiwan and Europe.
The non-stop service to Taiwan will also offer new connections for passengers looking to travel to onward destinations including South East Asia, North East Asia, Indonesia, Australia and mainland China.

China Airlines Heathrow inaugural

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Heathrow world’s ‘best airport shopping’

    Heathrow was named as the world’s best airport for shopping at the pretigious Skytrax World Airport Awards ceremony in Belgium.
    Citing terminal 5, but also improvements in other terminals especially 1 and 4,  Skytrax gave the award to Heathrow ahead of Amsterdam Schiphol (2nd) and Singapore Changi Airport (3rd).
    Brian Woodhead, Retails Concessions Director of Heathrow Airport said “airports play a vital role in passengers’ overall enjoyment of their journey and indeed holiday. We are committed to providing a world class shopping experience for our passengers at Heathrow and are continually looking at ways to enhance and improve our retail offering. It is fantastic that this hard work is being recognised by passengers across the globe and we look forward to raising the bar even higher over the next 12 months.”
   Commenting on the success of London Heathrow Airport, Skytrax Chairman, Mr Edward Plaisted said “This was a closely contested section of this global survey, and for 2010 is made more interesting by opening up the qualification to cover Airport Shopping as a complete entity – rather than travellers nominating just on the basis of duty free shopping. This Award covers all of the shopping facilities available within the airport environment, airside and landside, and is based on both the selection and quality of retail choices as well as standards of staff service delivered across these retail outlets. Whilst Terminal 5 is still the flagship leader at London Heathrow Airport, we found that customers were impressed by the upgraded shopping facilities at the other Heathrow terminals, Terminal 4 and Terminal 1 both ranking well in the study.”

BA increases flights in second walk-out

   British Airways will increase the number of flights for the second wave of strikes as more cabin crew say they will report for work.
   As thousands of Unite members ended a three-day walkout, BA said it planned to run 55% of short-haul and 70% of long-haul flights from Heathrow during the four-day walkout from this Saturday. It’s operations at Gatwick and London City were expected to run normally.
   The airline said it would continue to supplement its short-haul schedule by leasing up to 11 aircraft with pilots and crews each day of the action from six different airlines based in the UK and Europe.
   ”The biggest contingency plan in our history went extremely well last weekend, with large numbers of cabin crew reporting for work as normal,” said Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive.
    “This second strike is the work of a trade union that – despite its promises – seems determined to try to ruin the Easter holiday plans of thousands of families.
    “Once again the union has misjudged the public mood. Our flag will continue to fly. We will do all we can to rebook affected customers on to other British Airways’ flights, offer seats on alternative airlines or give a full refund.
    ”I stress again that our door remains open to Unite, day or night, if it wants to find a sensible settlement” , he added.
    BA said its flight programme involved 230 aircraft operating up to 650 services every day to or from 140 cities in more than 70 countries.
Customers were advised to check www.ba.com to see if their flight was still operating before departing for the airport.
    The airline said the three-day strike, which ended at midnight on Monday, cost it £21 million. The union ruled out strikes over Easter but has warned of further action from mid-April if the deadlock is not broken.
    BA said contingency plans to cope with the strike were “very successful”, and results for the year to March 31 would be “broadly unchanged”.
    Although BA said the outlook for the year was unchanged, it remains on course for record losses after racking up pre-tax loss of £342 million in the nine months to December 31.

Berlin route for bmi

    bmi is to launch a new service to Berlin on March 28 as part of a restructuring of its European network.
    An Airbus A319 will operate the four daily services, featuring a business class cabin offering hot food, a fully stocked bar and spacious seating.
    Economy passengers will be offered free baggage check-in up to a total weight of 20kg and a complimentary food service including a hot breakfast.
    Dominic Paul, managing director of  bmi mainline, said: ‘We are delighted to announce a service between London and Berlin which offers a good schedule and competitive prices to one of Europe’s most exciting cities.
    ‘Berlin is a major centre of culture, politics, media and science in Europe and customers travelling with bmi will have the opportunity to discover the cultural attractions Berlin has to offer.’
    The new service is the second to be announced as part of bmi’s new summer schedule, with a route from London to Vienna being confirmed in January. It will operate from Heathrow’s terminal 1.

More British Airways staff defy strike-call

    More British Airways flights are now expected to operate during the proposed cabin crew dispute following pledges from affected staff members, says the airline.
    British Airways is to increase its flying schedule for the period of Unite’s strikes as larger volumes of cabin crew call the airline to offer to work in support of the company’s contingency operation, said a statement.
    Following Unite’s decision to call strikes for March 20, 21 and 22, the airline published its flying schedules for the affected period on Monday, aiming to fly 60 per cent of its customers as planned. 
    “Since Monday, the number of cabin crew offering to work as normal has increased significantly – and is expected to grow further, 
    ”British Airways is also pleased that the number of other airlines offering their help for the strike period through charters or provision of spare seats has increased from 50 on Monday to more than 60.
     “These developments have enabled the airline to reinstate some previously cancelled flights and provide extra capacity for both longhaul and shorthaul destinations. For example, this will allow the airline to fly home more competitors and supporters from the Winter Paralympics in Vancouver” it said.
    Willie Walsh, British Airways chief executive, said: “The determination of our colleagues across the whole business to keep the flag flying this weekend is increasing.
    “I am delighted by the numbers of cabin crew who have been getting in touch with us to express their disillusion with Unite’s position. Our crews just want to work as normal, do their usual terrific job and look after our customers.
    “We will now have the potential to fly more than 4,000 additional customers per day and serve more destinations. We believe this is a helpful move at a time when customers are facing rising fares with alternative carriers.
    “Morale among our operations teams is high. Yesterday was our most punctual day at Heathrow for months, thanks to the efforts of all parts of the airline” he added.

‘Posh’ arrives to comfort injured David

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Victoria Beckham, the former ‘posh spice’ arrives at Heathrow from Los Angeles ready to comfort her husband David who was injured and receiving treatment in Finland. She subsequently caught a private jet to join him.

BA plans to fly majority of services through strike

    
     British Airways says it hopes to keep around 60 per cent of its customers flying through the cabin crew strike threatened for March 20-22.
    “The flag will continue to fly”, said BA’s chief executive, Willie Walsh.
     Heathrow is likely to be the worst affected of the major airports, but BA still expects to operate around 60 per cent of long haul and 30 per cent of short haul services from the hub.
     Across the airline it aims to fly around 45,000 customers each day on March 20, 21 and 22 representing around 60 per cent of customers originally booked to fly on these days. In addition, many thousands more customers will be offered seats on alternative British Airways flights or on services operated by other airlines.
     BA said that proposals for the second strike period threatened by the Unite union (March 27-30) will be announced after the first strike period has ended but the “vast majority of flights remain in the schedule”.
    It adds “the airline is still available to hold further talks but wants customers to have early warning of its flying schedule to allow sufficient time for alternative travel arrangements to be made”.
    In the first strike period, the airline plans to operate all longhaul flights to and from Gatwick and more than half of shorthaul flights at the airport. All flights to and from London City airport will be unaffected by the strike action.
   At Heathrow the airline will continue to operate more than 60 per cent of its longhaul flights to and from the airport during the first three days of action.
    The airline will operate some of its own shorthaul flights at Heathrow, and will supplement its schedule by leasing up to 22 aircraft with pilots and crews from eight different airlines based in the UK and Europe. This will enable the airline to operate around 30 per cent of its shorthaul schedule.
    British Airways has also agreed with 40 other carriers that customers can be rebooked free of charge during the actual strike period onto their flights if they had been due to travel on a BA flight which has been cancelled.  
    Customers should check their bookings on www.ba.com to see if their flight is still operating.
    Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, said:  ”We are deeply sorry that our customers are the innocent victims of this cynical attack on their travel plans by the leaders of Unite.
    “We will continue to try to prevent this strike taking place, but we have reached a point when we must now offer some clarity to our customers who have waited with great patience since Friday when the strike dates were first announced.
    “Due to the numbers of cabin crew who have called in to offer their services over the weekend, the schedule will be slightly larger than we had originally anticipated.
    “Despite the desire of Unite’s leadership to ground the airline, the flag will continue to fly. Around 60 per cent of our customers will be able to fly as planned and many thousands more can be rebooked onto alternative BA flights or onto rival airlines.
   “I recognise the frustration of customers booked for travel from March 27 onwards, when the second stoppage is due to begin, and we will do all we can to give them more clarity about their specific flight number once we start to understand just how many cabin crew are willing to work as normal.
   “We remain absolutely determined to search for a sensible settlement and our door remains open to Unite, day or night. It is not too late for the Unite to call off this action and we will do all we can to reinstate some of the cancelled flights.”
   Customers in the UK wishing to rebook their flights can contact the airline on 0800 727 800 which is a free telephone line. British Airways has opened up an extra call centre manned by staff volunteers to help customers with rebooking and refunding queries
    British Airways’ flight programme is complex, involving the combination of rosters for 13,000 cabin crew, more than 3,000 pilots and 230 aircraft operating around 650 services in and out of Heathrow and Gatwick every day. More than 8,000 flight and cabin crew have to be in the right place at the right time, either on aircraft, at airports or in crew hotels in more than 140 cities in more than 70 countries, every day. it says.
   Customers are advised to check ba.com on a regular basis to see if their flight is still operating before departing for the airport. If their flight has been cancelled they should not come to the airport but contact British Airways or their travel agent.  

Key points of British Airways’ schedule for customers:

·     More than 60 per cent of longhaul services into and out of London Heathrow will operate as planned between March 20 and March 22. The airline may be able to add to this schedule in the days ahead.
·     The airline will be able to operate some of its own shorthaul flights at Heathrow. It will supplement this schedule by hiring in up to 20 aircraft with their own pilots and cabin crew.  This combination will enable around 30 per cent of shorthaul flights to operate as normal. The airline may be able to add to this schedule in the days ahead.
·     The airline will operate a full schedule of longhaul services at London Gatwick (to The Maldives, Tampa, Orlando, Egypt and Caribbean destinations) during the strike period. It will also operate more than half of its shorthaul network at Gatwick.
·     Flights operated to and from London City will operate as normal, including services to and from New York.
·     Flights operated by subsidiary OpenSkies between Paris and New York will operate as normal. Flights operated by British Airways franchise partners (Comair in South Africa and Sun Air in Scandinavia) will operate as normal. Flights operated by other carriers (including oneworld Alliance partners) which have a BA codeshare flight number will operate as normal.
·     All dedicated cargo freighter services continue to operate as normal.

BA to ‘keep flying’ despite cabin crew strike

    
   British Airways has drawn up a detailed contingency plan to keep the airline flying after the Unite union announced a series of strikes by its cabin crew members late March.
    The airline is optimistic that a substantial number of its flights will operate from Heathrow, despite proposal for strikes between 20-22 March and 27-30 March. London City Airport is expected to be unaffected and many – if not all – flights are likely to operate from Gatwick.
    Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, said that the company had “done everything in its power” to reach agreement with the union. 
     He said that, despite the serious economic conditions, there were no pay cuts and or compulsory redundancies being proposed and the dispute was primarily over staffing levels and structures.
     He added “at Heathrow we have got very developed contingency plan which will see us operating a significant part of the programme”.

Amongst the proposals are

• The use of around 1,000 staff from other parts of the airline who have been trained to work as in-flight cabin crew.
• The hiring of fully-crewed chartered aircraft to operate services on European routes.
• The rescheduling and consolidation of many flights.

Eco-friendly take-off for A380

    
     A new take-off procedure for the A380 ‘superjumbo’, which saves on fuel and emits less CO2, has been developed at Heathrow.
     It will be used immediately on Singapore Airlines flights and details are being sent to other A380 users.
     Making maximum use of the aircraft’s sophisticated electronics, a team of experts from BAA, NATS, Singapore Airlines and Airbus has devised the departure procedure which is more efficient – yet still within the airport’s strict noise limits.
     It is estimated that the new scheme can save an additional 300kg of fuel per flight, equating to one metric tonne of emissions of CO2 on a flight to Singapore, as well as reducing NOx emissions.
    The companies worked together over the last year to develop the new airline procedure, which has been put into place immediately. Singapore Airlines A380s departing Heathrow now use less power when taking off, saving fuel and reducing NOx emissions. Once a height of 1,500 feet has been reached, the aircraft uses flexible acceleration up to 4,000 feet, before continuing its journey.
    “The A380 represents the most significant step forward in reducing aircraft fuel burn and resultant emissions in four decades whilst offering greater comfort on board,” said Tom Williams, executive vice president programmes, Airbus.
    “In fact, the A380 consumes less than three litres of fuel per passenger per 100 km.”
     Jane Dawes, operational noise and air quality manager from BAA Heathrow said, “The Airbus A380 is already the most fuel efficient aircraft in commercial service, burning 17% less fuel per passenger than other large aircraft. By 2020 one in ten flights at Heathrow could use A380s. It is important that we work constantly with our airlines to improve operating processes, and the introduction of these new departure procedures demonstrates our commitment to reducing emissions.”
    Captain Gerard Yeap, senior vice president flight operations, Singapore Airlines, “Our cooperation with Heathrow, NATS and Airbus goes to show what can be achieved when stakeholders share the same goal of reducing carbon emissions and fuel burn. Singapore Airlines is committed to playing its part in ensuring greener skies and sustainable air travel, and we hope this partnership will serve as a model for airport operators and governments elsewhere in the world.”

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