British Airways promises more flights during second strike

British Airways says it is planning to operate more flights during the second bout of industrial action as it is expecting more cabin crew to break the strike, due to begin on Saturday.

Members of the Unite union are due to walk out at midnight on Friday but British Airways' management said it will still be able to operate all flights from Gatwick and London City airports and 55 per cent of its short-haul flights from Heathrow and 70 per cent of its long-haul flights from Heathrow.

The four-day stoppage by cabin crew will still lead to disruption for tens of thousands of British Airways' passengers. The first three-day strike cost the airline £21million.

BA's chief executive Willie Walsh said: The biggest contingency plan in our history went extremely well last weekend with large numbers of cabin crew reporting for work as normal.

As a result of the numbers of crew wanting to work, we are increasing significantly our flying schedule and will be operating a full schedule at Gatwick and London City airports.

Passengers who are on long-haul flights from Heathrow will once again be the worst affected by the strike. They have the option of changing their flights or claiming a refund. Passengers due to travel from Gatwick and London City are not being offered free changes to their tickets.

British Airways is still hoping the union will call off the second strike and it says that if Unite does announce an end to industrial action it will try to reinstate cancelled flights.

Digg    Reddit    Facebook    Tweet This