Unite: BA Strike update - day 13
30-May-2010 The second wave of five day strikes began at midnight today (Sunday) and will continue until Thursday, June 3rd.
BA continues to operate a reduced schedule. Today it plans 275 scheduled flight departures from Heathrow. This includes 78 long haul flight departures from Heathrow and 197 Eurofleet (short haul) flight departures.
At 9am this morning, 102 BA (Heathrow) flights were cancelled including 22 long haul and 80 Eurofleet. Destinations hit include Johannesburg, Boston and Newark on long haul, as well as Hamburg, Manchester, Dusseldorf and Amsterdam on short haul.
The passengers and revenue from some 53 BA flights today will be handed to BA competitors as BA continues to rely on chartered (wet leased) aircraft (16 flights) and 37 codeshare flights operated by other airlines.
Now on day 13, the £7m-per day strike is costing BA at least £91m. Unite says it is "unreasonable" that BA is blocking a deal by refusing to move on the no-cost item, staff travel concessions. Speaking on the Andrew Marr show today, Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson said Unite was prepared to meet with BA "anytime, anyplace" to negotiate, but was concerned that BA's Willie Walsh was content to let the strikes continue without any attempt to resolve the dispute because he wants to "punish" the workforce.