Word: heathrow
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the U.S. Department of Justice fined BA more than $500 million in August for price fixing. Ten current and former BA executives face the possibility of criminal prosecution in the U.S. All this comes just as access to the transatlantic market out of Heathrow Airport--now restricted to BA and a few other carriers--is about to be blown wide open...
There are signs, though, that change is under way. While his predecessors kept union negotiations at arm's length, union leaders say Walsh's direct negotiation with his counterpart helped speed up a resolution. Ahead of BA's move next year into the new $8.5 billion Heathrow Terminal 5, the airline persuaded thousands of ground staff to agree to change their practices. Such deals, Walsh says, are "evidence of securing agreement without hassle, without friction...
...opening of T5, as the new terminal is known, should help tackle another of BA's weaknesses: its much criticized hub. "BA has a fundamental challenge none of its European peers suffer from," says Chris Avery, an airline analyst at JPMorgan in London. "Heathrow is stretched to its limits." Conceived for 45 million passengers a year, it sees almost 70 million annually endure its crowded terminals and snaking lines. Airlines wait longer for gates to clear, and creaking baggage-handling equipment is prone to breakdowns. Though it can't ease runway congestion--Heathrow's "Achilles' heel," says Avery...
...launch customer Singapore Airlines after more than a year's delay. "Airbus was thinking that people wanted massive airplanes to go between the continents," says Neidl. "What's wrong with that is that they don't." The A380 might work for flights to hubs such as London's Heathrow but probably not for intermediate cities, where passengers prefer direct service. And while seat-mile costs can be reduced for an airline with such an aircraft, too many seats to fill can erode yields...
...under the Open Skies agreement drawn up by Washington and Brussels, from early next year any E.U. airline will finally have the right to fly to any city in the U.S., and vice versa. With U.S. rivals Delta and Continental expected to start operating flights out of Heathrow next year, "BA's business-class fare is going to be under considerable pressure," says JPMorgan's Avery...