BA vows to keep 60% flying during strikes

British Airways vowed to keep 60% of its customers flying during the looming strikes as the dispute threatened to hit Labour’s election campaign preparations.

The airline said it aimed to fly about 45,000 passengers a day during the first three-day stoppage due to begin on Saturday, with thousands more people offered alternative BA flights or seats on other airlines.

Yesterday’s announcement came as the bitter war of words between the carrier and union Unite increased – and the Tories claimed funding provided by the union to the Labour Party had harmed the British government’s ability to prevent the strike action.

Cabin crew are due to walk out for a second time between March 27 and March 30, causing chaos for thousands of people heading off for the Easter holidays.

British Prime Minister GordonBrown yesterday put himself at odds with Unite – one of Labour’s biggest donors – after unexpectedly speaking out about the strike.

He described it as “deplorable” and “unjustified”, adding: “It is not in the company’s interest, it is not in the workers’ interest and it is certainly not in the national interest.

“I hope that this strike will be called off.”

Unite called the industrial action last week following the breakdown of talks between the union and BA over planned cost-cutting measures.

A new deal from BA to end the dispute was going to be tabled, but was withdrawn following the announcement of the strike dates.

Yesterday, BA said its chief executive, Willie Walsh, had waited at the offices of the conciliation services Acas over the weekend for talks but the union failed to turn up.

Unite vehemently denied this as “total nonsense” and said it had not been asked to attend talks.

BA said that during the first three-day strike it will operate all longhaul flights to and from Gatwick and more than half of shorthaul flights at the airport.

All flights to and from London City airport will also be unaffected by the strike and the airline said it will operate a full schedule of longhaul services at London Gatwick, to The Maldives, Tampa, Orlando, Egypt and Caribbean destinations during the strike period. It will also operate more than half of its shorthaul network at Gatwick.

BA said it had also agreed with 40 other carriers that customers can be rebooked free of charge during the actual strike period on to their flights if they had been due to travel on a BA flight which has been cancelled.

Mr Walsh said: “We remain absolutely determined to search for a sensible settlement and our door remains open to Unite, day or night.

“It is not too late for Unite to call off this action and we will do all we can to reinstate some of the cancelled flights.”

Unite’s joint leader, Tony Woodley, urged BA to put back on the table the offer it withdrew on Friday after the union had announced the strikes.

He accused BA of wanting a “war” with the union and said withdrawing the offer was “irresponsible”, adding: “Put the offer back on the table and we will look sensibly at suspending the strike and we can hopefully find a long term solution to a very difficult subject.

“At the moment British Airways does not want to negotiate – it just wants to dictate.”

Mr Woodley said the strikes would be suspended if the offer was reinstated.