As a kid, I first started plane spotting when I flew through the airports of  in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I became expert by the age of six at picking out all of the different tails of airlines. The bright colours of Braniff, the dignified blue of Pan Am, the proud speedbird of BOAC,  the Kangaroo of Qantas and the blue and white S of Sabena all were recognisable instantly. Fast forward forty years, and most of those airlines are gone.

As an adult, I still like looking at those tails and dream both about the carrier and it service and the exotic destinations it connects.   I promise I am not obsessive about my plane spotting.  I don’t make many special trips to the airport, just to watch planes!  I am noticing that while I see more planes at most airports, I am seeing fewer and fewer airlines.

A few years ago, a friend of mine Tony (see earlier post on how he got me into Flightmemory) and I tipped that the number of carriers globally would fall to a dozen or so with a small number of regional carriers. We saw national lines would get blurred, that fewer governments would be able or willing to prop carriers up and economics would force consolidation. Tony passed away a few years ago. He would be amazed at how quickly our predictions are indeed happening. Air France-KLM (2004), Lufthansa-Austrian-Swiss (2007-8), Delta-Northwest (2008), British-Iberia (2011), and United-Continental (2012). Now American and USAir are talking.

European airlines seem to be consolidating into seven major airline groups listed here in order of number of passengers carried:

1. Germany’s Lufthansa (who own Austrian, Germanwings, SWISS, Lauda, 45% of Brussels and 16% of Us Carrier JetBlue)- they made €820m in 2011 but lost money on British Midland who they are offloading. Thei subsiudary Austrian is under major pressure
2. Ryanair- made  €401m and are aiming to double passenger numbers in a decade
3. Air France-KLM (who are closing in on ownership of Alitalia) lost €353 million
4. EasyJet - increased  pre tex profits in 2011 to €303 ($362m £248m)
5. International Airlines Group ( British Airways and  Iberia) who doubled operating profits to €485 million
6. Turkish Airlines (winner of best European airline in 2011) was profitable and aims to be one of the 12 airlines in the world
7. Air Berlin  ( now 29% owned by Etihad) and the newest One World member reported a net loss of €271.8m ($322m; £205m). I am curious as to how much Etihad will decide to end up owning

The remaning independent airlines in Europe seem to be increasingly limping toward bankruptcy or absorption: Poland’s LOT, Portugal’s TAP, Hungary’s Wizzair,  Ireland’s Aer Lingus, Slovenia’s Adria airlines, JAT Yugoslav and Czech Airlines all cannot last more than another couple of years.

Spain’s Vueling and Air Europa are now in a much stronger position with the collapse of Star Alliance member Spanair. It makes logical sense to me that Vueling consider Star Alliance membership. Their competitors Iberia are in One World and Air Europa are in Skyteam. Eventually Vueling and Air Europa will have to join the consolidation dance.

Across in Scandinavia,  SAS Group has had four years of losses. Finnair is under enormous pressure after losing €87.5 million 2011 and is looking at outsourciing European flights to a new low cost joint venture.  Meanwhile low cost carrier Norwegian has ordered 222 new planes: 100 737 Neos, 22 737-800s and 100 new  A320neos.

I can’t see SAS, and Norwegian both surviving. One will have to give and the weaker one is SAS. Takeover by Lufthansa or Air France?

 I think Finnair will merge or be taken over. Possible candidates? IAG group? JAL? SAS?

Icelandair who has pegged its strategy on funnelling traffic through Iceland between the US and Europe must choose a new plane to replace its entire fleet of ageing 757s. They could remain a small regional player but more likely will be absorbed by someone else.

The British Airways/Iberia International Airlines Group is considering a possible stake in One World partner Japan Airlines when it has its IPO in September. It would seem to me that Qantas (which BA used to have a stake in) would also be a possible candidate for investment from IAG. Is it further possible that One World could move from airline alliance to airline? Eg One World Airlines combing all or most of their members?

How far will consolidation go? Will we end up with but three airline groupings in Europe all affiliated to an alliance ? And a couple of regional carriers?

Whatever it means, there will be fewer tails at airports to spot. Lets hope the mega-airlines keep the smaller brand names for a while on their planes.

This is the fourth time I have flown British Airways on this sector- and my last. BA will cease flying this route from this Friday March 3rd.  Qantas will terminate its Bangkok to London services on March 26th and its planes will turn around in Bangkok. Instead both airlines will “swap” passengers at Bangkok. The same thing is happening with their Hong Kong flights. Both airlines will maintain their services via Singapore (the “Kangaroo Route”). This shorter “hop” will be where all through Australia-London passengers will be fed. Passengers going via Hong K and Bangkok will be choosing to stop. I have some disquiet about how these reductions in service will help “sell” Qantas as a carrier which I have blogged about previously.

Competitors on the non stop Bangkok to Sydney sector are now Thai and Emirates. Air Asia, Malaysian, Singapore all offer one stop service.

This was the 22nd British Airways flight in my life.  I also flew their predecessors BEA and BOAC a lot. I have flown them in total enough miles to go around the world four times.

Booking: 10 out of 10

The British Airways website is very clear and very easy to use, It loads quickly. Booking and paying is a breeze.  Entering my frequent flyer number, and choosing my seat was simple. I chose an exit row aisle seat. Love it!

Check In: 10 out of 10

I checked in online and was really disappointed to find that I had lost my emergency exit seat. Worse I now had a middle seat almost at the back of the plane. I looked for seats near the front of the cabin and could not see anything that a 185cm 6’1 frequent flyer would find comfortable so row 51 it was.

On arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, I made my way to the clearly signposted British Airways Gold/Business Check in counter where a very friendly check in attendant greeted me.  I mentioned politely to her how disappointed I was to have been relegated from exit row to back. She said “Let me have a look. Well sir, the plane is very full. We have moved you to  another class of srevice. You are in row 18.” In other words, the magic words: “you have an upgrade”. Row 18 on this 747 is in British Airways call “Club World” *Business Class) . Thank you BA!

Lounge: 8 out of 10

Bangkok Airport’s British Airways/ Qantas Business lounge is airy, pleasant and comfortable. The showers were very nice. Food included little mini lamingtons  which made this Australian  very happy.  The lounge could not be faulted.  

Boarding: 8 out of 10

Finding a gate at Bangkok airport always seems a challenge for me. I have been there so many times and I still manage to lose Boarding gates! So I arrived a little stressed at the gate. After that, Boarding was pretty smooth but on the plane itself, the pace felt very frantic. It was a clearly a fully laden flight and passengers and crew seemed to be everywhere. I was glad to be offered a welcome drink! I asked for Sparkling wine but was told I could have champagne instead. (When I last flew Business with Air New Zealand, I asked for a champagne but was told on the ground they could only serve me Sparkling Wine!).

Unlike Business Class on Air New Zealand, Virgin and Qantas, no cabin crew member welcomed passengers on board individually. Crew on these carriers show passengers the ins and outs of the cabin. Not sure if BA don’t do it or if the heavy passenger load precluded it.

On Board: 8 out of 10

The 747 felt old. The interior fittings in Club World (Business) looked dated. My seat was great, however. There were a total of 52 seats in the Club World cabins, all 180-degree fully flat sleeper seats. The window seats all face the rear, as do the E & F seats. The seat has a 20″ width and 73″ pitch. On Qantas 747 on the same route you get 21.5″ and 60″ . Thai gives you 20″ and 55″ on their 747.

I chatted to my seat neighbour, before we raised the privacy screens. He was not convinced about flying backwards.

I initially found the BA service a little out of character. I could not place my finger on what i found jarring about the crew attitude. They won me over when I asked for a sparkling water, however. The cabin attendant leaned forward and said “we don’t have any.  It looks like they drank us out of it from London. It was a very full flight.” He said “I have looked“  Ten minutes later, he was back with a bottle from First Class. Very nice!

Safety: 10 out of 10

I feel I have seen the BA safety video many times now. Is it memorable or dated? Crew took safety briefing and checks carefully. 

Meals: 9 out of 10

Following my doctor’s noting my iron levels are low, I chose steak or my main course, Again, there was the slight jarring of service. Bizarrely, my flight attendant could nt recommend  a wine to accompany it. and even when prompted did not know the difference between the wines on this trolley. The steak with a  nice French red was perfect.

I found out later that British Airways have snacks available for club world passengers including sandwiches, smoothies and chocolates for access through the flight.  They didn’t mention it and I regret I didn’t check it out.

Entertainment: 8 out of 10

British Airways has  ”HighLife Entertainment’s Audio and Video On Demand (AVOD)”. In ClubWorld the flat TV screen is  26cm (10.4 inches). It rotates out in front of you and allowed lots of room to adjust it. noise canceling headphones are, of course, provided.  The 100 movies and TV programmes included lots of Downton Abbey, an excellent Mockmentray about Monty Python’s Life of Brian but one episode only of Mike and Molly, one of Modern family, one of Big Bang and one of Parks and Recreation! There were also 50 music CDs and audio books and 20 games which I didn’t play.

The Verdict:

My rating: 91% (5 out of 5)

Positives:   Meals, Lounge, Check in, Seat

Negatives:  Boarding, lack of Personal welcome

Would I fly them again?  Yes, especially if you upgrade me again- but alas it won’t  be on British Airways on this sector for a while

My last Trip Report: February 14: Malev – Rome (ROM to Budapest (BUD) Boeing 737

Image via Wikipedia

This week saw the first anniversary of a joint business agreement between American, Iberia and British. Under this agreement, the airlines agreed to co-operate commercially on flights between the United States, Mexico, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and Norway. The agreement  was backed up by anti trust immunity from US and European authorities.

Shortly, after the agreement was signed, in January, 2011, Iberia and BA merged into a new company called IAG (international Airlines Group), Europe’s third largest airline group and the sixth largest in the world by revenue. The airlines have combined the strong BA Asian connections with Iberia’s Latin American connections. The new company has headquarters in Madrid, and operational offices in London. BA investors got 55 per cent of the carrier and Iberia 44 per cent. The two brands have been kept. There have been some claims by Spanish unions of favoritism to the Brits.

That merger and the agreement raises the question for me about American Airlines and IAG. Its so logical for IAG to merge with American.

American has not got many places left to go. United and Delta are not possible merger partners for lots of reasons (monopoly issues, already bedding down mergers, different alliances etc). Merging with USAir would be a bad idea.  Frontier, Alaska, Hawaiian and JetBlue are too small and Southwest would not give American enough international connections. American needs to go outside of the USA to get a merger partner.

American had been surrounded by rumours of its impending bankruptcy for a couple of weeks now.  If it did declare bankruptcy, it could clean up its balance sheet.  Such a bankruptcy would therefore,  make the merger even more interesting for IAG.

The major blockage to merger is that the U.S. government caps foreign ownership  of US carriers at 25 per cent. Moving this cap to 49 per cent, would make such an international merger much more possible and attractive. It would ensure the survival of American.

It could lead to some more interesting international mergers. My friend Tony and I predicted a world with 10 to 12 mega carriers and 25 -30 regionals. Be interesting to see how right we end up!

Wonder if anyone is lobbying the US Government over the 25 per cent rule?

If you have ever sat near the front of an aeroplane, you would know that when the cabin door is about to close, the crew are handed a long scrolled up piece of paper with all customer details. In the 21st Century!

 It looks so primitive.

BA is testing Ipads with 100 cabin staff with the aim of rolling them out to all senior crew members in the next few months. Loaded on them are timetables, safety manuals and customer service updates. More importantly from a customer service point of view, when the doors are about to close, the cabin crew refresh their Ipads. Immediately they will have a list of all passengers on board, their seating , meals, requests, frequent flyer status and potential issues.

Is there no end to the uses of an Ipad? This use: I love. Wonder when other airlines will try it out?

(I also assume, they will turn off and stow their Ipad for takeoff and landing?)