British Airways

[a300boy]

Thanks for that ridgeback when they took over Dan-Air the non Ba crew could not operate or bid for positions in Ba mainline for three years and I suspected that would be the same for Bmi. I agree they are unlikely to use a B767 I was just pointing out that the fact the type does not have performance charts on board does not stop it operating into Lba as landing performance can be calculated by the crew from onboard data. Do they have electronic flightbags or Aerads on board ?

 

[Galaxy]

Anyone know what's going on with the 15:55 BA departure?

 

[EX9]

Aircraft tech, engineer most likely on the next inbound.

 

[lbaspotter]

Aircraft tech, engineer most likely on the next inbound.

Yep, G-DBCA has just got away on the SHT1343 service without the inbound SHT1344 getting here before hand. So either it's been fixed here by a LBA based engineer or maybe a British Airways engineer has been sent from either MAN or NCL?

 

[Galaxy]

Bloody typical, I went to the cemetery today to film it!

 

[lbia]

It was fixed by a LBA engineer from a different airline, as I drove him down to stand 8. He happens to also be Airbus qualified thankfully. Should be a nice little earner...

 

[White Heather]

3 of today's 4 LHR rotations have been cancelled. It is very windy at LBA today, but all flights have got in so far, and you would not expect that winds this morning would result in flights cancelled tonight - unless BA know something we don't!

 

[channex 757]

Passengers on the Heathrow flight are getting bussed down to Heathrow.

 

[ridgeback]

All I know is that the 1340 got in but couldn't get out due XWC over 38kt limit.

A/c stuck in LBA and crew night stopping. I expect that BA are reluctance to risk sending another and then having that one also stuck there. Wind is forecast to remain for 24hrs.... Absolute disaster. Record number of people booked today.

I really feared this with a start date in Dec and jus hope BA don't lose faith with the operation before it gets on its feet.

I had forgotten just how limiting and airfield LBA can be at times...

 

[lbia]

Just looked a late night flight out of Heathrow to Dubai in a few months. Was going to fly down on the lunchtime BA, seriously considering take Megabus instead!

I really want BA to do well, but at the first sight of any possible problem they cancel, it really is quite concerning and I have witnessed some of the abuse the Servisair staff get from the BA passengers. If they don't sort it out, people will just back to Manchester, or be sensible and take the much cheaper and much more reliable KLM service.

If a fully loaded, 25 year old 737 can make it in and out to Malaga, the surely an A319 with about 20 passengers on can cope on a 25 minute flight to Heathrow. Just saying.

 

[Galaxy]

I think we all know where this is going. I can't see the route making it to Summer at this rate. Imagine paying a BA fare to London and then having to spend 5 hours on a coach. No thank you. I regularly flew with both BMI to LHR and FlyBE to LGW for mostly business but sometimes pleasure, and I never once had a cancellation. Maybe I was lucky, but it seems to me that BA's heart is not in this. I was going to try it out for next Month, but if there's no guarantee it will run, is it worth the risk, when I know the train is much less likely to let me down?

 

[White Heather]

If that is the reason then its madness. All other flights have got in and taken off, yet the BA flight is grounded and all those passengers put on buses? Nobody can tell me that there has been no opportunity for an A319 to take off today. Yes there have been some big gusts of wind, but at times it has died down too and at the moment is dropping quite a bit. Yet this evening's flight was axed by lunchtime. Bmi used to get in and out in far worse using the same equipment - do BA have far more stringent limits? If so they are wasting their time at LBA as if they can't cope with a cross wind, they are operating from the wrong airport. I can well imagine how their pax feel when they watch other flights departing, yet they are told to go and get on a bus because it is too windy.

 

[White Heather]

Well further to yesterday, at least BA did operate the first North-bound flight this morning. I half expected that to be cancelled, particularly given the low loads it carries, then use the night stopper at LBA to operate the first South-bound. But they didn't and the rotation operated as normal, with the night stopper going back to LHR as a positioning flight shortly after the BA1341. Lets hope that the route manages to operate with some stability now without weather disruptions at either end.

 

[Jordan-34092]

Its surprising really how jet2 757s can perform better at getting in and out of lba compared to Ba A319s

 

[airforced]

Its surprising really how jet2 757s can perform better at getting in and out of lba compared to Ba A319s

I was wondering about that too. Everything else seemed to get in and out yesterday, albeit with some delays it seems.

Was it just BA failing to get their act together or are there operational problems with the A319 into and out of LBA in such weather? Anyone know the answer to this one?

On the face of it BA have damaged their reputation on this one if there shouldn't have been any problems specific to the A319.

 

[White Heather]

I can't imagine how the A319 has a problem - after all BMi used them from LBA for quite some time and generally speaking, got in and out without any issues. We are used to aircraft not being able to land sometimes in the cross wind, but being unable to take off is less common.

 

[ridgeback]

Can't defend yesterday's operation, or lack of, it was a PR disaster and let down a lot of people.

To put some facts on it. The 1340 got in but couldn't leave. The A319 limit is 38kts and it was gusting 42. I know it wasn't doing that all the time but the Captain clearly wasn't happy to depart.

Having started the day struggling for sby a/c (in T1) they then had the 1340 stuck at LBA and so were another a/c short and had no choice but to thin the T1 programme. The obvious place to cut was LBA as the wind was forecast very high XWC all day long and so sending further a/c up to Leeds risked having another one stuck there putting more pressure on an already strained operation. DUS & DUB (both T1) also took a hit with canx rotations.

I'm not defending it. Just explaining what happened.

As a further blow yesterday had record bookings over the 8 sectors. It was the best day by some distance. The route is actually selling better and better every week.

 

[Seasider]

May I offer a reason for yesterday's cancellations. The fact that the A319's are the same as operated by BMI, which used to operate in most crosswinds, were flown by BMI pilots based at LBA. They would be used to flying from/to LBA and would have experience of using the airport in these circumstances. I would imagine that since the aircraft is LHR based, the pilots do not fly as often to LBA and not being used to these conditions, err on the side of caution.
I would be very disappointed as a passenger if the flight was cancelled/diverted but quite pleased if it ensured my safety.

 

[a300boy]

A320 G-MIDT on its way to Leeds this morning on the 1340,

 

[stewief1]

Am in the prem lounge just now waiting to board it.