BA facing days of disruption as strikes go ahead

The dispute intensified after the union Unite announced that thousands of its members would walk out for three days from March 20 and for four days from March 27 following the collapse of talks aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and working conditions.

The union revealed plans to ballot its 12,000 cabin crew members on an offer from BA but any hopes of a last-ditch reprieve for travellers were scuppered when the airline said the offer was no longer on the table.

BA's chief executive Willie Walsh accused the union of trying to "break" the company and said his focus was on keeping the airline flying.

BA temporarily stopped selling seats on flights operating on the strike days, adding that until it revised its flying schedule next week, all passengers booked to travel between March 19 and 31 would have the choice of either rebooking or cancelling and obtaining a refund.

Unite urged BA to put its offer back on the table, saying the airline's decision to withdraw it "beggared belief".

BA has drawn up contingency plans to deal with the strikes with up to 1,000 volunteer staff ready to work as cabin crew – including hundreds of pilots.

The airline will also hire 23 fully-crewed planes from charter

companies to help to run flights from Heathrow.

Flights from London's City Airport, including long-haul services to New York, will operate normally, while 70 per cent of cabin crew will work at Gatwick, meaning all long-haul and 50 per cent of short-haul flights will be unaffected, BA said.

No specific details were given about flights from Heathrow, but Mr Walsh said a "substantial" number of long and short-haul services would still operate.

Mr Walsh revealed that Unite had asked for a three-week extension to the legal process to delay strikes being called, saying he had agreed to the request.

He said: "That is not what they have done. The offer we made last Wednesday is no longer available. We are moving on.

"I will make myself available for talks 24 hours a day but our focus will be on looking after our customers.

"This has caused great uncertainty for our customers and my focus will be on doing whatever we can to keep BA flying."

He added: "There is absolutely no justification for the action Unite has taken. The changes we have introduced are fair and reasonable. This is about securing the future of this great business. We are not going to let Unite destroy this company."

Mr Walsh said Unite's proposals on cost savings fell "significantly short" of the savings BA had already achieved, adding: "Everybody can see this is a trade union trying to break the company."

Unite put forward a 10-page document during talks this week which detailed a series of savings on pay, crew numbers, natural wastage, hotel costs and meal allowances, totalling almost 63m.

The union said BA had offered to reinstate 184 full time cabin crew to its Euro and World Wide fleets but maintained this fell 600 short of what it wanted.

Len McCluskey, Unite's assistant general secretary, said BA had turned down a "remarkable" offer from the union which he maintained would have given the airline everything that it wanted.