BA cabin crew hold crunch talks today
British Airways’ cabin crew union Unite is talking of further industrial action with walkouts over the Christmas peak travel period thought to be a possibility.
Union leaders have called a meeting of cabin crew at London’s Kempton Park racecourse today to discuss a further strike ballot.
However, Unite joint general secretaries Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson say they are still looking for a peaceful resolution to the long-running dispute, which the union claims is continuing to hit BA’s traffic.
Overall, BA’s traffic was down 2.9% in August, compared with the same month last year, and premium traffic fell 3.1%.
BA blamed the year-on-year drop in first- and business-class passengers on the fact that it did not repeat last year’s promotional activity in premium cabins this year.
A spokesman for Unite said: "Today’s figures show that a worrying number of passengers, in the key premium sector particularly, continue to book away from BA.
"Willie Walsh has failed to recapture those passengers he lost last year, and has in fact lost even more.
"Passengers pay for service and stability and while Willie Walsh continues to wage war on his workforce he can offer customers neither."
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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