22 February 2008

BA and pilots agree to conciliation

British Airways and the British Air Line Pilots Association have agreed to refer issues relating to the launch of the OpenSkies subsidiary to a conciliation process with an independent third party.

The decision was reached at what was described as a 'positive' meeting between BA and BALPA at the airline's headquarters near Heathrow.

Both sides expressed their strong desire to achieve a peaceful outcome, according to a joint statement.

This came after an overwhelming majority of BA members of BALPA voted in favour of strike action (see previous TravelMole story).

The union's general secretary Jim McAuslan said: 'The ballot result shows the strength of feeling of our members about the implications of the creation of OpenSkies.

'We have no quarrel with the travelling public and have always maintained that these issues could be resolved through negotiation rather than confrontation.'

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: 'We welcome the progress made today and are confident that a settlement can be achieved through conciliation which will protect our customers from the possibility of disruption.

'We are proud of the professionalism and high reputation of our pilots and have never sought conflict with them.'

by Phil Davies