British Airways cabin crew at London Heathrow have been operating as three separate teams for a good ten years now. This resulted in quite a bit of complexity when it came to crew planning and rostering, as well as variable levels of service on occasion.
Routes would periodically move between the various fleets and each group was contractually restricted to certain kinds of flying. All of that has changed as of 1 November 2020, when they became a single group.
British Airways Cabin Crew History
British Airways was created on 31 March 1974, as a merger between British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), British European Airways (BEA), Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines. Cabin crew were split into two groups called Worldwide and Eurofleet.
This continued until 2010, when British Airways created a new group called Mixed Fleet. These new recruits would be paid at the standard employment rate of the day (which was markedly less than the historical crew were on) and would fly both short-haul and long-haul routes.
How Many People Are We Talking Here?
According to Head For Points, in May 2020 there were 6,382 Worldwide crew, 6,027 Mixed Fleet crew and 1,853 Eurofleet crew. At the time, it was planned that the legacy crew would be reduced in pay to the level of Mixed Fleet.
At last report, it seems the Worldwide and Eurofleet crew would see a maximum 20% reduction in base salary, and have their contracts changed so they would fly all routes. The proposed contract rates for everyone else look like this. Whether this is what eventually happened from a pay perspective, I do not know.
Overall Thoughts
It is good for both the airline and its passengers that the British Airways cabin crew at London Heathrow will be all one group. It will be great for the new hires to be able to learn by osmosis some of the excellent habits the older crew have gained through experience.
At the same time, it will be good for the older crews to be working with younger people again. It helps to have enthusiastic people around you when working, as it can really make everyone have a better day. Let’s hope it proves to be a good working environment for everyone concerned!
What do you think of British Airways cabin crew at Heathrow becoming a single fleet? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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My concern is for the Mixed Fleet crew. The horror stories about them having to sleep in their cars because they weren’t paid enough to viably live within commuting distance have even reached us here in the USA. If something wasn’t done to markedly move their pay to a living wage, I suspect that there will be more unhappiness and labor strife to come.
They receive a pay increase over what they were on before, which you can see in one of the links I have in the article. They certainly deserve it, as they’re trained the same and are just as good as the crew with longer service. Besides, some people in Mixed Fleet have been there ten years, so they have plenty of experience too.