NEWS: British Airways – confirmed up to 36,000 staff furloughed, B747s at Bournemouth, some services resume late April, single runway at Heathrow

BA furloughs up to 36,000 staff

Unite, the UK and Ireland’s largest union, which represents thousands of workers employed by British Airways, has today (Thursday 2 April) reached agreement with BA about how workers will be protected during the coronavirus crisis. The staff include ground workers, cabin crew and head office staff. 

The key parts of the deal are as follows:

1. British Airways will introduce a modified version of the government’s job retention scheme, so that workers will be furloughed on 80 per cent of pay. However, unlike the government scheme, there will be no cap on earnings.
2. Workers will be able to divert their pension contributions into their pay for a short period of time (contributions are between 9-18 per cent of earnings).
3. There will be no unpaid temporary layoffs.
4. There will be no redundancies during this period and the redundancy process that had already begun has been halted.

Unite national officer for aviation Oliver Richardson said: “Given the incredibly difficult circumstances that the entire aviation sector is facing this is as good a deal as possible for our members.

 “The deal protects the jobs of BA staff and, as far as possible, also protects their pay.

BA B747s at Bournemouth including retro jet

Earlier this week I published some photos of BA aircraft stored around the country. The majority of BA aircraft are being stored at Heathrow, Gatwick and Bournemouth. Larger aircraft have been sent to Bournemouth now with a number of B747s including  G-BNLY, repainted with the Landor livery, which adorned the British Airways fleet from 1984-1997.

Here are some more great photos from James Williams, one of my former ATC colleagues. 

Some BA services due to resume late April

British Airways has filed to start some services again in late April. Whether this actually happens or not is a different matter. The UK government warning against all but essential travel is due to end on 6 April. Given that Japan has just banned entry to Japan for any non-Japanese nationals who have been to the UK or this list of countries in the last 14 days, other than in exceptional circumstances, Tokyo looks iffy!

Here is the full April long haul schedule:

London Heathrow – Abuja Service resumes on 24APR20, 1 daily 777-200ER
London Heathrow – Bangalore Service resumes on 15APR20, A350-1000XWB operates alternating days
London Heathrow – Boston 1 daily 787-9
London Heathrow – Buenos Aires Ezeiza Service resumes on 18APR20, 3 weekly 3-class 777-200ER
London Heathrow – Calgary Service resumes on 19APR20, 3 weekly 787-8/-9
London Heathrow – Cape Town Service resumes on 18APR20, 747-400 operates alternating days
London Heathrow – Chicago 1 daily 777-200ER
London Heathrow – Doha Service resumes on 18APR20, 1 daily 787-9
London Heathrow – Dubai Service resumes on 25APR20, 1 daily A350-1000XWB
London Heathrow – Hong Kong Service cancelled from 09APR20 to 24APR20
London Heathrow – Hyderabad Service resumes on 15APR20, 787-8/-9 operates alternating days
London Heathrow – Johannesburg Service resumes on 18APR20, 1 daily 747-400
London Heathrow – Kuala Lumpur Service resumes on 19APR20, 787-9 operates alternating days
London Heathrow – Kuwait City Service resumes on 14APR20, 777-200ER operates alternating days
London Heathrow – Los Angeles 1 daily 787-9
London Heathrow – Mexico City 787-9 operates alternating days
London Heathrow – Montreal Service resumes on 18APR20, 3 weekly 787-8
London Heathrow – Mumbai Service resumes on 15APR20, 1 daily 787-8
London Heathrow – Nairobi Service cancelled from 07APR20
London Heathrow – Nassau – Grand Cayman Service resumes on 13APR20, 3 weekly 3-class 777-200ER
London Heathrow – New York JFK 2 daily 777-200ER/-300ER
London Heathrow – Rio de Janeiro Galeao Service resumes on 23APR20, 787-8 operates alternating days
London Heathrow – San Francisco Service resumes on 04APR20, 1 daily 747-400
London Heathrow – Santiago de Chile Service cancelled from 03APR20 to 22APR20
London Heathrow – Sao Paulo Guarulhos Service resumes on 23APR20, 1 daily 777-300ER
London Heathrow – Seattle 1 daily 787-9
London Heathrow – Seoul Incheon 787-8 operates alternating days
London Heathrow – Singapore – Sydney 1 daily 777-300ER operation
Singapore – Sydney sector cancelled 08APR20 – 29APR20
London Heathrow – Singapore sector cancelled 08APR20 – 21APR20

London Heathrow – Tel Aviv Service operates on 11APR20 and 12APR20 with 777-300ER
London Heathrow – Tokyo Haneda 1 daily 787-9
London Heathrow – Toronto Service resumes on 18APR20, 1 daily A350-1000XWB
London Heathrow – Vancouver Service resumes on 18APR20, 1 daily 747-400
London Heathrow – Washington Dulles 1 daily A350-1000XWB

HT: Routesonline

Single runway at Heathrow for foreseeable future

 Heathrow will be moving to single runway operations from Monday 6 April. This means instead of operating one runway for departures and one runway for arrivals, there will be departures and arrivals on a single runway using mixed-mode operations.

This is a temporary measure due to the impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID19) outbreak.  Heathrow will be alternating which runway they use on a weekly basis to ensure local communities continue to get respite periods. Heathrow remains open so that critical repatriation flights and cargo services can continue to operate. The airport is playing a crucial role in facilitating the supply chain of vital medical goods and food for the nation,
with 41% of the UK’s pharmaceutical products being imported via Heathrow.