Most BA Flights Back to Service

Most BA flights back to service

LONDON, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) — More than three quarters of British Airway flights in and out of London’s largest airport, Heathrow, are expected to go into service on Saturday as the airline gradually recovers from the effects of a wildcat strike.

But the airline warned that it will be next week before its flight operations are back to normal after it was forced to cancel all its Heathrow flights following a 24-hour walkout by its ground staff in support of 670 employees sacked by the US firm Gate Gourmet, which supplies catering for BA.

The airline is planning to operate about 85 percent of short- haul flights and more than three quarters of long-haul services on Saturday while clearing the backlog of up to 110,000 passengers who were left stranded as a result of cancelled flights over the past two days.

A BA spokeswoman said only customers with confirmed reservations should travel to the airport on Saturday and Gourmet was unable to offer a full catering service.

Some BA flights resumed at Heathrow Airport on Friday evening, but it faced a complex logistical challenge with at least 100 aircraft and 1,000 flying crew remaining in wrong places due to the chaos.

Also facing knock-on effect are Australian carrier Qantas, Finnair and Sri Lankan Airways and other airlines, which use the same ground staff.

Meanwhile, negotiations between the Transport and General Workers Union and Gate Gourmet at the center of the industrial action were adjourned Friday night after the two sides agreed to meet later.

It was estimated that the disruption was set to cost BA up to 40 million pounds (73 million US dollars) because of the cost of refunds, loss of flight revenues and bills for putting passengers up in hotels.

BA operates around 550 flights a day at Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest international hubs, at this time of year, traditionally one of the busiest weeks for the airline industry as people go on holiday during the height of the summer season.