British Airways flights resume amid crippling strike

LONDON - British Airways flights have resumed from Heathrow Airport as the airline tried to work through a crippling dispute that has grounded more than 110,000 of its passengers during the peak summer holiday season.

Some 31 short and long-haul flights were scheduled to have left Heathrow by midnight on Friday following the cancellation of more than 620 flights over two days, a BA spokeswoman said.

BA hopes to run 40 per cent of its long-haul flights and 50 per cent of its short-haul flights out of Heathrow on Saturday.

Passengers who did get a BA flight out of Heathrow were given food parcels and vouchers before leaving due to the absence of on-board catering because of industrial action by the catering company supplying the airline at the airport.

BA flights not operating out of Heathrow did have on-board catering while those taking off from Britain's capital could only serve drinks.

"Customers are strongly advised to eat before leaving for the airport or to allow extra time at the airport to eat," BA said in a statement on its website.

Mike Street, the airline's director of customer services and operations, said BA faced a complex logistical challenge, with at least 100 aircraft and 1,000 flying crew in the wrong place.

"As a result it will take some time to return to a normal flying program. We recognise how frustrating this must be, but we are working as hard as we can to get customers away on their holidays," he said.

BA flights at Heathrow resumed after around 1,000 BA staff who walked out on Thursday in support of workers sacked at the catering supplier returned to work.

Arbitrator ACAS began talks during the afternoon with the union and the catering supplier, Gate Gourmet. The talks will resume on Saturday morning, Transport and General Union (TGWU) spokesman Andrew Dodgshon said.

"It was a useful dialogue," he said.

Around 100,000 passengers fly daily with BA during August, and about two-thirds of its flights, excluding franchises, use Heathrow, the world's busiest international hub.

BA said 73,000 passengers were grounded on Friday after 40,000 passengers were unable to fly on Thursday.

Analysts said the cancellations could cost Europe's No. 3 airline tens of millions of pounds.

Shares in BA, already suffering from record oil prices and competition from low-cost carriers, fell as much as 2.5 per cent in early trade. However, they recovered during the session and closed down 0.8 per cent at 290 pence.

BA staff working during the dispute were strung out. "It's a very, very difficult day. I keep being shouted at, so it's not much fun," said one, who declined to be named.

Unofficial strikes in 2003 cost BA around 40 million pounds, and analysts said the firm was getting a reputation for letting customers down.

"Financially, people are talking 10 million pounds a day in the short-term, but obviously longer-term there's the hit it takes in terms of customers and how it's perceived by clients," said Henk Potts, an investment manager at Barclays Stockbrokers.

BA said it was too early to estimate the cost of the strike.

"SIGNIFICANT DISRUPTION"

Other airlines faced knock-on disruption. Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. said it had canceled flights, while Finnish national carrier Finnair and Sri Lankan Airlines were also affected.

BA's relations with staff have been strained since the airline axed thousands of jobs in an industry downturn that followed the September 2001 attacks on the United States.

The latest dispute was triggered by a long-running spat between the TGWU and loss-making Gate Gourmet, which is owned by US private equity fund Texas Pacific.

Unions said Gate Gourmet staff were sacked after they walked out in protest at planned changes to pay and conditions. The company said its reforms were needed to safeguard its future.

- REUTERS