Aviation
BRITISH AIRLINES CANCELS FLIGHTS DUE TO STRIKE
September 10, 2019

British Airways has announced that the British Airline Pilots Association(BALPA) will proceed with its planned strike on Sept. 9-10, 2019.

 

With no details on the staff reporting to work, the flag carrier was forced to ground almost all of its flights for the said dates estimating losses to reach GBP80 million ($98.7 million).

 

"Unfortunately, with no detail from BALPA on which pilots would strike, we had no way of predicting how many would come to work or which aircraft they are qualified to fly, so we had no option but to cancel nearly 100% of our flights," British  Airways said in a statement posted on its website.

 

The airline said it remains "ready and willing" to return to talks with BALPA as it told passengers the carrier is working with partner airlines, for now, to provide a full refund or rebooking to a different date of travel or alternative airline.

 

Flights on its subsidiaries BA CityFlyer, SUN-AIR and Comair are not affected, it added.

 

BALPA wants British Airways to provide a profit-sharing scheme for all its employees rejecting the airline's proposal to raise pay 11.5% over three years.

 

BALPA earlier said the gap between the airline's position with their proposal is about £5 million (US$6 million), while estimated daily losses due to the strike is  £40 million (US$49 million) per day.

 

Aside from the strikes earlier this month, if it remains unresolved, BALPA also scheduled another strike on Sept. 27.