BA increases flights in second walk-out

   British Airways will increase the number of flights for the second wave of strikes as more cabin crew say they will report for work.
   As thousands of Unite members ended a three-day walkout, BA said it planned to run 55% of short-haul and 70% of long-haul flights from Heathrow during the four-day walkout from this Saturday. It’s operations at Gatwick and London City were expected to run normally.
   The airline said it would continue to supplement its short-haul schedule by leasing up to 11 aircraft with pilots and crews each day of the action from six different airlines based in the UK and Europe.
   ”The biggest contingency plan in our history went extremely well last weekend, with large numbers of cabin crew reporting for work as normal,” said Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive.
    “This second strike is the work of a trade union that – despite its promises – seems determined to try to ruin the Easter holiday plans of thousands of families.
    “Once again the union has misjudged the public mood. Our flag will continue to fly. We will do all we can to rebook affected customers on to other British Airways’ flights, offer seats on alternative airlines or give a full refund.
    ”I stress again that our door remains open to Unite, day or night, if it wants to find a sensible settlement” , he added.
    BA said its flight programme involved 230 aircraft operating up to 650 services every day to or from 140 cities in more than 70 countries.
Customers were advised to check www.ba.com to see if their flight was still operating before departing for the airport.
    The airline said the three-day strike, which ended at midnight on Monday, cost it £21 million. The union ruled out strikes over Easter but has warned of further action from mid-April if the deadlock is not broken.
    BA said contingency plans to cope with the strike were “very successful”, and results for the year to March 31 would be “broadly unchanged”.
    Although BA said the outlook for the year was unchanged, it remains on course for record losses after racking up pre-tax loss of £342 million in the nine months to December 31.