Category: Airlines

The photo above is from the press office of British Airways and is of G-CIVD today, on its last flight from London Heathrow. It’s the first of the 747-400 fleet that British Airways are retiring early due to the current aviation crisis. G-CIVD was delivered to British Airways on 14 December 1994 and the airline think that it has flown for 115,276.8 hours on 13,364 flights.

It’s a shame that I don’t know anyone with a sufficiently big garden, otherwise I’d like the idea of buying one and parking it up …..

This is progress….. In the past, if BA changed seats for operational reasons they had a habit of never telling anyone. Well, they told some people, but not the customer. This was relatively common for those in emergency exit row seats when they switched to a different aircraft, thereby either leaving the customer in a non-emergency exit row seat or shoved somewhere random near to the back of the aircraft.

I received the above e-mail about my flight to Poland in September, and BA had switched my seat number, but they moved the seat to where the emergency exit row now was. I accept this is of limited excitement, but it’s a better system than they used to have.

I’m not that much of an aircraft spotter, but I’m slightly saddened that British Airways has announced it is permanently retiring its entire 747-400 fleet, four years earlier than expected. That’s not entirely surprising given current events, but it’s an unfortunate end to what is perhaps one of the most beautiful aircraft that there has been.

I’ve flown on many of BA’s 747-400 aircraft, but this flight from London Heathrow T5 to Boston in May 2019 will be my last on-board one of their fleet. It’s aircraft G-CIVE and for this aircraft, its last passenger journey was 24 March 2020 when it returned to London from Vancouver.

There are 31 of these aircraft that are now being scrapped, although there are hopes that BA might be able to save one from being entirely destroyed, perhaps sending it to an aircraft hanger or museum.

This is G-BYGC that I saw last year at Heathrow T5, painted in an old BOAC livery.

And this is what Alex Cruz said about the decision:

“This is not how we wanted or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredible fleet of 747 aircraft. It is a heart-breaking decision to have to make. So many people, including many thousands of our colleagues past and present, have spent countless hours on and with these wonderful planes – they have been at the centre of so many memories, including my very first long-haul flight. They will always hold a special place in our hearts at British Airways.”

British Airways said they’d be flogging off a few pieces from their art collection, which is pretty substantial. This is Cool Edge by Bridget Riley, which BA seem to have had in their collection for some time.

The estimate is £800,000 to £1,200,000 which makes it just a little bit outside of my price range. And taste range to be honest. But, if anyone wants to buy it, it’s up for sale at Sotheby’s (https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/evening-sale-london/bridget-riley-cool-edge)…..

This is the new Club Europe catering that will be used by British Airways over the next three months or so, something of a change from the more substantial and usually cooked offering that was previously provided. Clearly not quite as exciting, but needs must given the current situation. Those passengers in Euro Traveller, who were previously given nothing as it was buy on board, do now get basic soft drinks free of charge.

It’s a relief, for the first time in months, to be able to book a flight and see this e-mail arrive. OK, it’s just a domestic flight for later in the year, but nonetheless….

British Airways e-mailed this morning with the subject title “something to make you smile”. And, the e-mail did, so that’s my loyalty to the wonderful BA confirmed for years to come. And, most importantly, I hope that BA are able to ensure their staff all remain in employment and that routes don’t need to be dropped.

Dear Mr White,

We all love to hear some good news every now and then. And so today, we wanted to tell you something that we hope will make you smile.

As the world prepares to fly once more, we know there is still a long road ahead, and we wanted you to know that we’ll be right there with you every step of the journey.

To say thank you for all your loyalty and support, we’ve added 12 months extra onto your Silver Executive Club membership. So you have more time to enjoy your benefits, whenever you’re ready to return to the skies.

What’s more, it will be even easier to retain your Silver status next time you’re up for renewal, as we’ve decreased the amount of Tier Points needed by 25%. This is the same for upgrade thresholds too, making that next Tier more achievable.

You can read more information here, and other ways we’re supporting you during this period.

We hope that put a smile on your face. Thank you again for your loyalty.

Your Executive Club Team

Along with the temporary suspension to numerous destinations, sad to see that BA have recently announced that they have stopped flying to four locations.

They’re:

London Heathrow – Beirut (Lebanon)

London Heathrow – Helsinki (Finland)

London Heathrow – Leeds Bradford (UK)

London Heathrow – Moscow Sheremetyevo (Russia)

The Leeds Bradford link to London seemed relatively popular, but there’s been an environmental argument for a while about whether this is a sensible use of aircraft. Moscow continues to be served by Moscow Domodedovo, but BA must be expecting that a permanent fall in the number of people prepared to go to Russia.

Disappointed about the removal of the Helsinki route as I planned to use that next year to get to Tallinn (after getting a ferry across the Gulf of Finland), a direct BA route they shut down in 2019. It looks BA has given up on great swathes of eastern Europe, which will be a handy boost to Ryanair and Wizzair. There’s always Finn Air, who are Oneworld, but I rarely see anything keenly priced there.

Hopefully when things return to some form of normality then BA can start looking at new routes to replace the ones that have been lost.