Britain's BA and Iberia of Spain have unveiled a new co-operation agreement aimed at cutting costs and improving customer service.
In the replay, Benitez's deployment of Ba, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata up front proved key -- as did Petr Cech's superb one-handed save to deny Javier Hernandez's header to keep Chelsea ahead in the game.
Quite what Chelsea's prospective signing Demba Ba thought of the team's performance is unknown, but with the Newcastle striker sat in the stands, the Blues flattered to deceive.
The BBC's Mamadou Moussa Ba in Gao says heavy bombardment could be heard in the centre of the city on Tuesday, with a French helicopter patrolling.
The Hammers failed to clinch the loan signing of Hoffenheim's Senegalese international striker Demba Ba in time for him to feature at St Andrew's but Grant said the move is close to going through.
Another official said BA's move showed that the airline was "finally showing good signs of recovery".
In the meantime, merger activity is threatening to change the face of BA's competition.
But BA's Continental rivals are no longer the bloated, state-owned giants, they used to be.
Many reckoned that the benefits of BA's restructuring outweighed the likely damage from the threatened strike.
ECONOMIST: Christmas woes for Britain��s once-great flag carrier
Such uncertainties limit BA's options, as well as its attractiveness to a merger partner.
ECONOMIST: Christmas woes for Britain��s once-great flag carrier
It is also reasonably sanguine about BA's other big problem: its enormous pension deficit.
ECONOMIST: Christmas woes for Britain��s once-great flag carrier
The deal will see BA's shareholders take 55% of the new company to Iberia's 45%.
The restaurant, Chez Nous, is a delightful new contender in BA's competitive culinary scene.
Chelsea looked unlikely to find a way back, but Ba's brilliant finish gave the team renewed hopes.
BA's proposals, which represent a decade-long funding plan, have already been agreed by the pension fund's trustees.
The cash will come from BA's reserves, which at the end of last year totaled 2.1 billion pounds.
It seems that BA's core shareholders support him: the share price hardly moved when the strike was announced.
ECONOMIST: Christmas woes for Britain��s once-great flag carrier
Ba's former side Newcastle United became the first high profile team to exit a competition famous for upsets.
Two of the routes are being taken over by a Humberside-based firm as BA's CitiExpress operation reorganises its services.
If these numbers are true, notwithstanding the allure of technology, BA's campaign may prove a hit with business executives.
BA's premium passenger numbers fell 13 percent in the second half of last year, in line with the industry average.
CNN: BA: 'Absolutely no signs of recovery' in airline industry
Mr Westcott added that BA's mechanics were all staff of the airline, which would not say if anyone had been suspended.
The 59-year-old from Twickenham, south-west London, left work in October 2006 after she was told her necklace breached BA's uniform code.
BA's international strategy was stalled for three years as competitors streaked ahead.
BA's revenues and as much as 90% of its profits, with the rest coming from other long-haul routes, including the Middle East.
BA's operation has grown to 750 in two years and it is hiring 800 more workers for a new office in Pune.
BA's flat-bed seats in a dark cabin undisturbed by any meal service.
BA's chief executive Willie Walsh has insisted that passengers had not been overcharged because fuel surcharges were "a legitimate way of recovering costs".
BBC: The fines followed probes on both sides of the Atlantic
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