BA strike contingency plan off to 'good start'

Strike-hit British Airways said today the airline had got off to a “good start” as its plans to cope with a mass walkout of cabin crew staff swung into action.

But the three-day strike by an estimated 12,000 BA cabin crew – their first in 13 years – was expected to cause disruption for thousands of passengers.

A spokeswoman for BA said that the airline had “got off to a good start” as it implemented contingency plans at UK hub airports.

The Unite union, in contrast, claimed a number of planes were starting to stack up at airports as a result of the strike.

The union claimed there were 85 parked planes at Heathrow, 20 at Cardiff and 20 in Shannon.

Unite said early indications were that its 12,000 members were solidly supporting the three-day walkout, which started at midnight in a bitter dispute over cost cutting.

Picket lines were mounted at airports including Heathrow, and Unite said that no buses which normally transport crew to work, had crossed picket lines this morning.

A BA spokeswoman said: “We aim to fly as many customers as we can this weekend. At Heathrow and Gatwick we have got off to a good start. London City is operating as normal.

“Cabin crew are reporting as normal at Gatwick and the numbers reporting at Heathrow are above the levels we need to operate our published schedule.

“This is the biggest contingency plan we have ever launched.”

BA also confirmed that a number of long-haul flights were running without passengers so planes could be in the right place when the strike ends.

BA is planning to operate all long-haul flights to and from Gatwick plus around half of short-haul flights, while all flights to and from London City Airport are expected to fly as scheduled.

The company said it was confident of handling as many as 49,000 passengers today and the same number tomorrow, which compares with a figure of around 75,000 for a normal weekend day in March.

Some passengers are due to travel with other carriers on specially chartered planes.

BA has arranged with more than 60 other airlines to take BA customers on their flights.

Some passengers brought forward flights booked for this weekend and Monday but were left disappointed when they arrived at Heathrow yesterday to find earlier flights had been overbooked and they were not guaranteed a seat.

Unite maintained that cabin crew were strongly supporting the strike despite suggestions that some would work partly because they did not want to lose their travel perks.

Unite’s joint leader Tony Woodley accused BA of wanting a “war” with the union and complained that BA chief executive Willie Walsh had tabled a worse offer than one withdrawn last week.

Mr Woodley said today that he had been set “mission impossible” because of the new offer, which included a four-year pay deal the union maintained would at best freeze wages until 2014.

A Unite spokesman said: “The support we are getting shows how strongly people feel about this and is in spite of the bullying by management.

“Willie Walsh’s appeal for people to cross our picket lines has obviously not worked.”

The union had offered a 2.6% pay cut this year as part of a three-year deal.

Unite also claimed today that BA had failed to commit to extending the validity of the current industrial action ballot so that members could vote on any offer from BA.

“This failure could have led, in the event of a rejection of BA’s proposals by cabin crew, to a third strike ballot in five months – and continued instability for the airline, its customers and the wider BA workforce,” said a Unite official.

Mr Woodley said today: “The disruption that passengers will inevitably experience over the next three days could have been spared had BA grasped that you cannot put an offer on the table one day, take it off the next and then come back with a worse one a few days later.

“To expect this union to recommend to its members any such proposal shows an insecure grasp of industrial relations reality.

“Unite remains available at any time to talk to BA. We urge them to think again about what is truly in the long-term best interests of this great airline.”

The Prime Minister has urged the two sides to resolve the dispute, but today Tory leader David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of failing to act because Unite is “bankrolling” the Labour Party.

He said the strike threatened the very future of one of the UK’s “greatest companies”.

The atmosphere in Heathrow’s Terminal 5, where most of BA’s flights go from, was relaxed today.

The only difference to most travellers’ flights was that many were operated by other companies as BA sought to make sure their passengers get to their destinations.

Long-haul flights in particular seem not to be disrupted.

American Jodi Rogers, 39, was flying to Boston after a 10-day holiday.

“As far as I know we are flying with BA and it’s on time,” she said. “It was shortly after we landed here that we heard there was going to be a strike, which did concern us as we thought we may not be able to get home, but so far, there has been no trouble.”

But Par Svensson, 47, from Sweden, had his flight to Copenhagen cancelled this morning due to the strike and he was waiting at the terminal to see whether he could get a later flight from Heathrow.

“There has been some disruption for me which is not good as it’s my son’s 16th birthday today and I would like to get home,” he explained.

“I’m on standby for a flight and I will find out soon if I get onboard. To be sure, I’m booked on a flight tonight from Stansted.”

Another four-day stoppage is planned from March 27 and further action is expected from mid-April unless the deadlock is broken.