British Airways CEO Rod Eddington this morning in New York discussed with analysts and journalists plans to eliminate first class seating on some of the carrier's long-haul aircraft. "The days will be gone when we have first class on every aircraft," Eddington said. "First class is important but on quite a few routes that have the four-class configuration we have had an empty or a near-empty first class."
The strategy would focus on Boeing 777 aircraft serving such U.S. gateways as Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, according to BA officials. The changes may come when those aircraft are fitted with the revamped Club World business class, sporting lie-flat beds. Markets with higher demand for premium services, including Boston, Chicago, Newark, New York, Los Angeles and Washington, will not be affected.
In the past few years, several carriers either have created and deployed across their entire fleet of long-haul aircraft first class/business class hybrids or eliminated first class on specific routes. Lufthansa German Airlines, for example, recently has been removing first class on certain transatlantic flights
(BTN, March 24).
Should British Airways follow suit, it would be a departure from the carrier's traditional focus on premium class. Eddington, however, stressed any such decision would not represent a general shift away from first class. British Airways previously announced that by October it will forever ground Concorde operations.
Eddington was in New York to brief analysts on British Airways' recently released full-year financial figures. Despite a deep loss in the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, the carrier's full-year, after-tax result was a $111 million profit.
The dramatic turnaround from a year earlier, during which British Airways posted sizable losses, largely was a result of comprehensive cost savings laid out early last year in the carrier's Future Size and Shape Review. "The priority now is to deliver on the second year of the program," Eddington said.
He also noted that BA's largest corporate clients remain cautious. "Everyone is waiting for signs that the economy will grow. We should not be optimistic about revenue. That is why we must focus on costs."
Eddington also weighed in on alliances, suggesting they should, in the current climate, take a back seat to individual recovery efforts. "Oneworld is in good shape, and the alliance is important," he said, "but any sensible airline management team's first priority should be fixing their own store."