Virgin Unhappy with BAA

It is reported that VS are not happy with BAA's demand for cancelled flights to try and reduce the congestion at LHR -

"Virgin Atlantic criticised the directive, saying it favoured airlines like British Airways which could cut less-lucrative short flights and keep most of its long-haul operations running.

"There is no level playing field," a Virgin spokesman said.

Virgin, which operates only long-haul flights, also called on BAA to let it operate some flights from London's other airports such as Gatwick. Virgin plans to cancel three flights on Monday.

The directive at Heathrow applies to airlines with four or more flights a day from the airport.

BAA threatened to deny airlines the use of airport facilities if they did not comply, according to a memo a source familiar with the situation said was sent by the airport's chief executive Tony Douglas to airlines over the weekend.

"Any airline not complying with this Chief Executive Officer instruction by attempting to operate into or out of Heathrow will be considered to be in breach of the conditions of use for Heathrow airport and the use of airport facilities will be denied," the memo, emailed to Reuters, said."

The full story with all the other airlines commenting on the situation is here

[preiffer]

So, if it applies to all airlines operating 4 or more flights a day, how the hell are BMI claiming to be running an "almost normal" schedule?

Flights are operating as normal with minimal delays. Customers are strongly advise to check-in as early as possible to allow for the extended security process.

Either they're talking a$$ (as usual) or BAA are pulling a fast one... [:?]

Originally posted by MarkJ
It is reported that VS are not happy with BAA's demand for cancelled flights to try and reduce the congestion at LHR

I was wondering if the airlines have SLA's (Service Level Agreements) with BAA? It is very common in the two industries I work in for clients to demand SLA's of their providers, and to be able to accurately measure and show performance statistically. After all, Virgin, BA, BMI etc are all clients of BAA. In the event that the SLA's are not met, there are financial implications for the provider.

How about this? A two minute wait at security control for 95% of pax, and a five minute wait 99% of pax measured on a month by month or week by week basis.

A similar constraint should go for flights cancelled by the provider (aka BAA).

Or are we to accept that aviation is a special case? In which case we must ask the question why have other airports (LCY springs to mind) been able to run with negligible disruption since Thursday's additional security procedures?

Cheers, Howard

[RichardMannion]

Denying use of airport facilities? Does that mean hot water for Revivals?

Thanks,
Richard

im not surprised Virgin and ryanair arnt happy