BA Middle East flight disruptions narrowly averted
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
British Airways passengers have narrowly avoided disruption to some Gulf services this week after planned strike action by the airline’s cabin crew was nipped in the bud in the eleventh hour.
BA crew had planned strikes between 18-22 May, which would have meant the cancellation of some flights on the Doha-Bahrain-Heathrow route and on some Jeddah and Dubai services.
However, the airline on Monday won a High Court injunction to stop the latest strikes - a ruling that declared them illegal.
BA said it was delighted for its customers that Unite’s plans for “extreme and unjustified strike action” could not go ahead.
“We are sorry the court judgment cannot undo the disruption already suffered by some customers who were due to travel during the early days of the union’s industrial action,” said statement released by the UK flag carrier.
“As Unite knew, we had to announce last Thursday the rearrangement of our Heathrow schedule to give customers as much notice as possible about changes to their travel plans necessitated by the strike call.
“Ash disruption permitting, we will aim to restore a full flying programme at Heathrow by the weekend. We will also offer a full programme at Gatwick and London City, as planned.”
The statement added: “We hope all sections of Unite, including the leaders of the cabin crew branch Bassa, will take this opportunity to pause and focus on achieving the early and peaceful end to this dispute which the travelling public and all our employees want. “
However, as TDME went to press, the union was planning to appeal against Monday’s court decision to block the strikes.
Meanwhile BA is running a reduced service following the late legal challenge to the strikes.
Comments are closed.