British Airways will not have envisaged beginning life with Iberia under a new chief executive as marking a return to the position of a year ago.
But that is largely where the airline is in its dispute with cabin crew, and it must decide in the next few days whether to break with the negotiating stance of Willie Walsh.
If it does not, expect strikes by Unite members to resume and the question of whether crew will strike over Easter and/or the Royal Wedding to dominate news about the carrier and perhaps affect the performance of the new International Airlines Group in the City.
BA will also find itself caught amid a developing confrontation between unions and government over spending cuts – with a national demonstration planned in March and strikes to follow.
The cabin crew ballot was in favour of resuming strikes. There is no other way to view it. That indicates the size of the fracture in BA’s industrial relations following a 14-month dispute and two-year negotiation. A vote of more than 3.5:1 on a 75% turnout is not borderline. David Cameron is prime minister with a much-shakier mandate.
The fact that 3,000-odd cabin crew are not Unite members reflects the fact that, for historic reasons, staff at Gatwick and London City airports are outside the union and can be expected to work through strikes as they have done up to now. However, support for the union at Heathrow is unbroken.
So Walsh’s successor as BA boss, Keith Williams, has a choice – to maintain the existing line of no concession on travel perks and no retreat on disciplinary action, or to back off.
BA sources have suggested union leaders are mistaken in believing Williams will take a softer line in talks, while Walsh has insisted that Williams, not he at parent IAG, will run the airline.
We will soon see. Unite has a new leader too, in Len McCluskey, who will not want to start his tenure with a deal opponents may decry as a “sell out”.