British Airways said weekday, it’s off, most of its flights for forty-eight hours, poignant as several as 195,000 travelers, due to a strike by pilots overpay.
The U.K.’s flagship carrier said in an exceedingly statement that it had “no means of predicting what number (pilots) would come back to figure or that craft they’re qualified to fly.” As a result, it aforesaid it had “no possibility however to cancel nearly 100%” of its flights for the period of the strike.
British Airways said it stands ready to come back to talks with the pilots’ union, BALPA, and that it has offered affected customers full refunds or the option to rebook. The airline had been ready for weeks for the strike, giving travelers advanced notice. “We understand the frustration and disruption of Balpa’s strike action have caused our customers. After several months of attempting to resolve the pay dispute, we are extremely sorry that it has come to this,” it said.
British Airways says it’s offered the pilots a pay raise of 11.5% over 3 years however the union says its members desire a larger share of the company’s profits.
The union accuses British Airways is creating huge profits at the expense of staff WHO created sacrifices throughout difficulty. A further strike is drawn sure Sept. 27. Union leader Brian Strutton same pilot square measure determined to be detected.
“They’ve antecedently taken massive pay cuts to assist the corporate through hardship. Now BA is making billions of pounds (dollars) of profit, its pilots have made a fair, reasonable and affordable claim for pay and benefits.”
British Airways’ parent company, IAG, made a net profit of $3.2 billion last year. British Airways operates up to 850 flights daily. London’s sprawling Heathrow field is going to be the foremost suffering from the job action because it is that the airline’s hub and is employed for several of the company’s long-haul international flights.
