British Airways cancels hundreds of flights over “reckless” pilot strike
British Airways (BA) has cancelled a swath of flights due to a planned pilot strike, which is set to kick off today.
The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) will launch an “unprecedented” pilot strike later today over a pay dispute that will see thousands of disruptions in travellers’ plans, as reported by Reuters.
As a result, BA has cancelled “the vast majority” of its 850 daily, round-trip flights on Monday and Tuesday, an airline spokesperson told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Travel Weekly has contacted British Airways for comment.
This comes after BALPA last month notified the airline of strikes on 9, 10 and 27 September – reportedly the first ever by BA pilots.
British Airways’ operations will mainly be affected in London, through Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and Edinburgh, but flights on BA CityFlyer, SUN-AIR and Comair are not affected.
The airline is also working with partner airlines to schedule larger aircraft to take the maximum number of customers, and has created a page dedicated to providing information regarding the strike.
“It is completely unacceptable that BALPA is destroying the travel plans of tens of thousands of our customers with this unjustifiable strike action,” BA said in a press statement.
“We are extremely sorry that after many months of negotiations, based on a very fair offer, BALPA has decided on this reckless course of action.”
BALPA, on the other hand – who is also campaigning at Ryanair Holdings – believes BA should share more of its profits with pilots.
The union added the cost of striking (£40 million per day, according to BA) far outweighed the cost of settling (£5 million).
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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