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Well I am sure there are some views on this? Does it mean we could see more red shoes and sex or will the divine right of BA be victorious again? What about the vaunted Scottish passengers flying to London will they get a decent deal or are their slots going to end up going to China?
I don't think this is any suprise.
And to be honest I think Virgin knows the IAG/BMI deal will eventually go through.
I think they will just try and make it as long, painful and costly for IAG as possible. And maybe even get a slot or two in the end.
The reality is that BA submitted the highest bid, by far. Poor old BMI is losing so much money that LH must be very keen so see this sale go through. I read in the Sunday Times that it is losing some £50 per passenger segment (to put that in perspective, it is the equivalent of the FR average fare). BMI is the author of its own misfortune. I speak as someone who used to fly BMI twice a week. The airline has been squeezed between BA's full service but competitive offering and the low cost carriers in RyanAir or EasyJet. Instead of bleating to Brussels, Sir Richard and Mr. Ridgeway should get the chequebook out and put a decent offer on the table!
I agree that there is probably more politics in this than genuine concern. Nevertheless I think ringfencing the Scottish slots so thye cannot be changed to other routes would help protect the interests of those passengers. I would rather tha tthan force BA to dispose of some slots.
When BA and AA filed for anti-trust immunity for trans atlantic operations there were a couple routes highlighted by the authorities that BA/AA would have an unfair almost monopoly on, I think they were BOS-LHR and MIA-LHR. The authorities made it a condition of approval that BA/AA give up slots to be used by other airlines....but on those routes only.
I think the same will happen with the LHR-Scottish routes. So unless SRB wants to start LHR-Scotland I cant see Virgin getting a lot out of their bleating.
Yes they canned their only short haul route, Athesn, a long time back. Flew it once on points. No worse than the BA service which is lamentable for a flight of that length.
Rich out of curiosity what do you find so bad about the LHR-ATH service?
Its been some time since i've worked on shorthaul but I understood that even in Eurotraveller a full bar service is available. A three course hot meal is served. Tea and coffee follows. And the aircraft is mainscreen IFE enabled. Not too awful for a european flight of 3.5 hours.
I commuted LHR-ATH every week for 6 months in 2006. Forgetting the one high spot when the 767 was grounded fro Polonium tests and I got to fly back First on a 777..
It is a long flight for Europe and the majoirty of flights were 757 which is fairly cramped for me in CE. Every now and again I would get a 767 but they were configure for CE too and only a little better.
Often there was no IFE on the 757. I used to always book a Seafood meal as I don't eat meat and it was virtually always missing ex ATH and on many occassions had been overlooked at LHR. I got the impression it was treated much like LHR-LIS or the Hawaiian flights in US that everyone was on holiday and there was no need for anything better. At the time OLympic had a346's on the route and offered substanitally better catering. As we know Olympic went under.
Only once was forced to take a red eye and that was an apaulling experience.
I knwo BA have now moved Moscow to a First Class route, I do not think Athens needs that (given their financial plight) however I do believe 767's with CW sould be used on this route.
It is a shame, ATH and LCA are right on the cusp of what is considered 'shorthaul' or 'longhaul'. 45 more minutes flying time to Tel Aviv and you have a long haul considered aircraft. Can't see BA upgrading the aircraft to ATH anytime soon though. In fact it seems pretty much all airbus now. Hopefully when (if) the BMI merger goes through they will roster some of their 'mid haul' airbus aircraft on the longer euro routes.
Did you expect Branson to do anything else than complain?
This is hardly suprising
I think Branson bleating on and on is somewhat embarrassing - for him! It makes him look like a spoilt brat throwing his toys out of a pram. He has had 25 years to launch service to Scotland or Manchester. Has he done it? Nope. So today's moan is that many of BMI's pax are transfer pax at LHR - to HIS airline and he faces losing them. Well, tough luck. I doubt when he underbid everyone else for BMI, he had a caveat that said he'd love to only buy the domestic routes. I'd rather see BA have it and keep the routes flying. At least it would mean continued employment for pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. Could Branson turn BMI around to make it profitable? I would doubt it. Could BA? More than likely. Branson should pay a bit more attention to what he has got - bring in that long awaiting new Upper Class, improve the food offering, and perhaps look at his trains, which could use quite a bit of help!
Given BMI is Star Allaince I would have thought most BMi pax would trf to UA, LH, NH, SQ etc rather than VS.
I do feel for the Scottish travellers rather than Branson. Air travel domestically is pretty second rate particularly if you want o fly to and from non London destinations. Unlike the US air transport s still not an everyday thing.
Sir Richard Branson is such a SORE loser. Why? VS has no short-haul network so their point about EDI, ABZ and MAN becoming BA monopolies is mute. Why moan about something you can't do anything about? Is he gonna lease A319s to service those routes in VS colours?
This is so typical Old Beardie Branson. He could have bought BMI. There were really only two viable buyers for BMI, VS and BA. He was first at the table and HE walked away. It was a dream deal for him, a European network in place to feed his long haul flights. A few parallel routes such as JNB which he could absorb into VS and slots to sell.
The reality is he, or rather VS, did not have the money. Branson does not put up. He moans and bleats about how unfair everything is so he gets it for free or at a knock down price. Just look at Northern Rock.
To use an old expression, "Money talks, bulls..t walks"! He walked, so as he didn't put up, he should now shut up!
"He walked, so as he didn't put up, he should now shut up!"
But why should he, when he can cause some troubel for a competitor and maybe even pick up a few scraps from the table?
It's sensible business to have a snipe.
(Can't stand the guy, but he is not an idiot.)
IIRC, VS own LHR slots that they have leased out to others. Surely all they need to do is take them back and start their own domestic services and Branson no longer has anything to whinge about. Well the last comment is a bit hopeful because he always finds something to whinge about.
Of course it's not only Northern Rock they've spent money on, it's Esporta too which affects me as it's now a Virgin Active. They've turned my nice premium and stylish gym in to something naff with the usual over promise, under-delivery and hikes of up to 100% in pricing.
I take your point DoS and I can't stand him either. But why go or a few scraps when you could have had the whole meal. That is not good business.
Lugano
If you can't afford the meal, you'll settle for the scraps :-)
True Disgusted, but old Beardie can afford it. He's supposedly a billionaire. He gets +-3% paid as a royalty on every ticket, train ticket, virgin phone call, gym use etc etc. No doubt he'll pick up a nice fee or Northern Rock as well?
What does he hope to gain. For sure tie up BA's management while they sort this referral out, but it will go through anyway. The alternative is LH shut BMI down. Sell the slots, the residual value (if any) in the planes and any other assets and put I don't know how many on the dole!
I think there are two distinct issues...
1) Should Virign be awarded BMI , my answer absolutely not.
2) Does this acquisition present competition issues at LHR particularly with reference to Domestic flights, my answer quite probably.
He problem in the current climate is that perhaps there are no other players placed to make a better offer. I would hope the BA acquisition is approved with some attempt to foster competition from other ailrines on these routes (maybe AF/KL? as they both have experience of domestic routes with smaller equipment)
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