British Airways: Flight schedule increased

Customers are being contacted throughout today to give them as much notice as possible about their specific travel plans between May 30 and June 3.

The airline will be increasing its Heathrow longhaul schedule to more than 70 per cent of flights (up from more than 60 per cent this week). It will be increasing its Heathrow shorthaul schedule to more than 55 per cent of flights (up from more than 50 per cent this week). The airline will continue to fly to every shorthaul destination on its network.

Due to the numbers of crew wanting to work normally at Gatwick, all flights will continue to operate as scheduled during the very busy half term break as families fly out to many popular holiday destinations. Flights at London City airport will also operate as normal.

At this stage British Airways expects to fly more than 75 per cent of customers who hold a booking between May 30 and June 3. This equates to around 65,000 customers flying each day. Many thousands more will be able to use seats we have secured on more than 50 other airlines to reach their destination, if they still wish to travel or be rebooked onto an alternative BA flight departing within the next 355 days. Refunds are also available for customers whose flights have been cancelled.

The airline will continue to lease up to eight aircraft from other UK or European airlines to supplement its shorthaul schedule at Heathrow.

Customers in the UK wishing to rebook their flights can visit the airline's website, www.ba.com, or contact the airline on 0800 727 800 which is a free telephone line. British Airways has opened up an extra call centre manned by staff volunteers to help customers with rebooking and refunding queries.

British Airways' flight programme is complex, involving the combination of rosters for 13,000 cabin crew, more than 3,000 pilots and 230 aircraft operating schedules. More than 8,000 flight and cabin crew have to be in the right place at the right time, either on aircraft, at airports or in crew hotels in more than 140 cities in more than 70 countries, every day.

Customers are advised to check ba.com on a regular basis to see if their flight is still operating before departing for the airport. If their flight has been cancelled they should not come to the airport but contact British Airways or their travel agent.

Key points of British Airways' schedule for customers:

· Flights to and from London Gatwick will continue to operate as normal.

· Flights operated to and from London City will operate as normal, including services to and from New York.

· More than 70 per cent of longhaul services into and out of London Heathrow will operate as planned between May 30 and June 3. The airline may be able to add to this schedule in the days ahead.

· The airline will be able to operate more than 55 per cent of its shorthaul flights into and out of London Heathrow between May 30 and June 3. The airline may be able to add to this schedule in the days ahead.

· Flights operated by subsidiary OpenSkies between Paris and New York and Paris and Washington will operate as normal. Flights operated by British Airways franchise partners (Comair in South Africa and Sun Air in Scandinavia) will operate as normal. Flights operated by other carriers (including oneworld Alliance partners) which have a BA codeshare flight number will operate as normal.

· All dedicated cargo freighter services continue to operate as normal.