Interesting presentation from Alex Cruz….

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Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

  • travelworld2
    Participant

    ..at the UK-Israel Business Forum this morning.

    Whatever you think of the man and BA’s current management he doesn’t lack passion.

    More snippets on enhancements for Club World and First- the new Club seat with direct aisle access, more storage and space is “critical” and will be fitted in all long haul aircraft, including the 747s which are soldiering on until 2024. Expect 5-10 aircraft to be fitted next year. The only reason for there not being more is the rate of seat production. He said that they should have done it sooner. The new Club World seat will put pressure on the differentiation between it and First (i.e., First won’t be good enough- many say it isn’t at the moment) so there will be a new enhanced First 787 seat rolled out before a wholly new First product down the line. There will be a reduction in the number of First seats per aircraft, too.

    Overall, he did sound as if he had taken on board a lot of the criticism from frequent flyers. We’ll see.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I wonder when details of the new J seat will be presented….


    nevereconomy
    Participant

    Mr. Cruz strikes me as the kind of person more likely to be reacting to market forces than to complaints from frequent flyers.


    x2000traveller
    Participant

    I appreciate that he is a controversial character to many frequent fliers, but the presentation I heard him give in November was very convincing.

    They are going to try and stay a full service carrier for business travellers at the front of the planes, but are being subject to loads of competition from the Gulf carriers, the US carriers and also the likes of Norwegian — and are not convinced that a mega-service/mega fare model would now work in most markets. Rather I think the plan is to be more Waitrose than Harrods, ie. getting it right most of the time and charge high, but not usurious, fares and rely much more on their frequencies and punctuality to appeal to this market segment.

    In Economy, the market has now totally changed and passengers’ quest for low fares is now so strong (and unstoppable) that they are going to do anything more than a ‘no-frills’ approach for the foreseeable, so minimal catering, very little support when things go wrong and, I think, trying to channel some traffic to Vueling and City Flyer who have even lower costs than their LHR and LGW operations.

    One can wail at the moon about all this for some time, but this is clearly the future.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    I appreciate that he is a controversial character to many frequent fliers, but the presentation I heard him give in November was very convincing.

    The man is CEO of a very large company – they have to be convincing to reach that level.

    It doesn’t necessarily follow that they are capable of delivering a successful outcome.


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    [quote quote=865026]

    They are going to try and stay a full service carrier for business travellers at the front of the planes, but are being subject to loads of competition from the Gulf carriers, the US carriers and also the likes of Norwegian.

    In Economy, the market has now totally changed and passengers’ quest for low fares is now so strong (and unstoppable) that they are going to do anything more than a ‘no-frills’ approach for the foreseeable, so minimal catering, very little support when things go wrong and, I think, trying to channel some traffic to Vueling and City Flyer who have even lower costs than their LHR and LGW operations.

    One can wail at the moon about all this for some time, but this is clearly the future.[/quote]

    EU Economy class is certainly at that standard and BA has to compete on cost ‘though has the advantage of its LHR superhub and a business plan based on longhaul transfers.

    It has never had problems competing with the ME3 (ME2 really since QR is a shareholder) and still operates two daily flights to DXB, partly because of business from London, a major world financial centre.

    Norwegian is different (and not profitable) and yet BA makes substantial profits.

    Imaginative use of its A380s on order (very profitable aircraft for BA) can beat even ME2 competition and to any destinations Norwegian compete.


    canucklad
    Participant

    My long-haul travel is almost exclusively in “Y” because I’m paying for it out my own pocket!!!

    Now here’s a thing with BA – Down the back, value for money it definitely is not !!
    Hence the reason why BA doesn’t hit my radar when booking long-haul.

    So I’m going to have to disagree with you x2000traveller, when you said ………
    “One can wail at the moon about all this for some time, but this is clearly the future”

    Clever thought can lead to an enhanced “Y” experience at very little cost , yet offer a big return in customer satisfaction if delivered in a creative way. And to contrary, for me , BA’s management spend too much time wailing at the moon, and not enough time engaging in new, cheap and innovative deliverables to maintain an overall (including Y) premium airline experience.

    And sadly for Cruz and his team, as much effort as they make to sell the concept of new premium class seats and enhanced standards of service in J, if your “Y” product has the reputation of being no better than a charter class airline, that perception will eventually taint the full brand and the ability to charge the going rate !!


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    Well done Mr.c to endure Y class,though not I suspect on BA longhaul.
    IAG can buy their new A380s (latest model) 11 accross in Y (same seat width) configured at 38″ pitch (ie.same as T+) and still carry more total pax than their currently successful A380s.
    It would beat the ME2 and any other airline to a new quality longhaul – do they have the ability?


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=865546]
    It would beat the ME2 and any other airline to a new quality longhaul – do they have the ability?[/quote]

    No.

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