NEWS: BA to establish Spanish base for crew, Heathrow T3 BA flights and Qatar’s virtual reality flight

BA to establish Spanish base for crew

BA’s shortage of cabin crew has meant cancellations, operating with less crew than normal and the continuing single tray service in Club World. BA has cancelled 1,400 flights since the start of April, according to flight data specialists Cirium. Although they have been trying to recruit (even offering a £1000 joining bonus) they are still struggling to find enough staff.

In an effort to overcome staff shortages it was released today that BA will be establishing a new cabin crew base in Madrid. BA used to have many cabin crew bases abroad such as Hong Kong but most of these were gradually closed down for cost-saving measures. The long haul bases were established to have native speakers onboard certain routes but these were all long haul. For the first time, BA will be establishing a temporary base in Madrid for crew for summer 2022 to help recruit more staff.

The fact that wages are lower in Spain probably doesn’t hurt either! Part of the issue with UK staff is the amount of time it takes to get security clearance at the moment. Presumably, it may be quicker in Spain or they are hoping to poach staff from other airlines. Whatever the reasons, if it means less flights are cancelled and service improves on board, I’m all for it!

Heathrow T3 BA flights

BA recently updated their winter timetables and with that changed the terminals for some flights between Terminal 3 and 5 at Heathrow. Some moves which were meant to be temporary will now continue for the winter season. 

Long haul

Already at T3

• Barbados (reverts back to Terminal 5 from Sunday 30 October)
• Nairobi
• Orlando 
• (reverts back to Terminal 5 from Sunday 30 October)

From today:

• Accra (reverts back to Terminal 5 from Sunday 30 October)
• Austin,
• Las Vegas,
• Phoenix
• São Paulo – Buenos Aires 

From 30 October:

• Atlanta
• Bahrain 

Short haul

Current routes from T3

• Algiers
• Bastia from 28 May 2022
• Billund
• Bologna
• Brindisi from 24 May 2022
• Bucharest
• Budapest
• Faro
• Gibraltar
• Gothenburg
• Krakow
• Ljubljana from 24 May 2022
• Lyon
• Marseille
• Naples
• Nuremberg
• Olbia from 23 May 2022
• Oslo
• Pisa
• Porto
• Pula from 28 May 2022
• Prague
• Split from 23 May 2022
• Tirana
• Toulouse
• Valencia
• Vienna
• Zagreb

Flights that are planned to move back to T5 for the winter

• Bucharest,
• Faro,
• Gothenburg,
• Lyon,
• Naples,
• Oslo,
• Porto,
• Toulouse
• Valencia 

Flights that are planned to move to T3 for the winter

• Barcelona,
• Hannover
• Sofia 

HT: London Air Travel

Qatar Airways enters the Metaverse

The Metaverse seems to be the latest thing. I’m definitely not an expert and in general, I can’t see why people prefer to spend time online in a virtual universe instead of the real one! But basically, it’s like a virtual world that has been created online where you can even buy a plot of land! Qatar has jumped onto the craze and launched its own virtual flights in the metaverse. Now I can see the point of this as it allows you to explore the seats and cabin before deciding to make a purchase for example. 

Users of the www.qatarairways.com/QVerse website can now virtually tour and navigate the Premium Check-in area at Hamad International Airport, the cabin interior of the airline’s aircraft, including the Qsuite, and the Economy Class cabin, by using your own Personal Electronic Device. There’s even a MetaHuman cabin crew offering a digital interactive customer experience.

The experience was developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, the world’s most advanced real-time 3D creation tool, and MetaHuman Creator, a cloud-based app for creating high-fidelity digital humans. Qatar Airways is the first global airline to introduce a MetaHuman cabin crew, featuring a digitally-created high-fidelity 3D human model named ‘Sama’ – whose name is of Arabic origin and translates to ‘sky’. ‘Sama’ offers an interactive customer experience through engagement with the user, taking them on a virtual journey of discovery, while presenting the unique features in both the Business and Economy Class cabins through a narrated script.