British Airways strategy news from their Capital Markets Investor Day

Every year, British Airways parent company, IAG, holds an investor day for the financial community to update it on what is happening.

The slides from this are always made available to the public, and you can access them here (look under the IAG tab).  It is less painful than sitting through the entire five hour conference call!

Here are a few highlights from the slides:

BA profit expected to reach £1.3 billion in 2015

Passenger numbers are still 10% lower than they were in 2001

Additional seat rows are to be squeezed into short-haul aircraft by introducing thinner seats

British Airways will consolidate in Heathrow T3 and T5 by Summer 2015, leaving Terminal 1

The Boeing 747 fleet will continue to shrink, reducing to 39 by 2015 and 31 by 2018 (currently 49)

The seven (leaky!) long-haul Boeing 767s will all be retired by 2018

Three new short-haul aircraft are on order to expand London City

The Boeing 737 aircraft at Gatwick will be replaced by modern Airbus aircraft by 2015, and an additional Boeing 777 will be assigned from Summer 2014

Only 7% of UK businesses which have staff who fly are members on the OnBusiness loyalty scheme

There is also lots of stuff on the issues at Iberia and the developments at low-cost carrier Vueling.

There was no mention of Vueling becoming a BA partner, though, even though it has more and more UK departures and you can already earn and spend Avios via Iberia Plus.  I didn’t know that Vueling is already the biggest airline operating out of Barcelona and the 3rd biggest out of Paris Orly.   There is even a Hotel Vueling in Barcelona now!

Vueling is also rolling out on-board Wi-Fi in 2014, which will put it ahead of BA and Iberia, embarrassingly ….

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)