MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

British Airways announces strike contingency plan for 60% of its customers

BA chief executive Willie Walsh: our customers are the innocent victims of this cynical attack on their travel plans

British Airways says 60% of its customers will be able to keep their travel plans during planned strikes by cabin crew. Industrial action is set to begin with a three-day walkout from Saturday March 20, followed by a four-day stoppage from Saturday March 27.

Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown waded into the argument between BA and the Unite Union - calling the planned industrial action 'unjustified' and 'deplorable'.

The airline has announced its contingency plans to enable around 45,000 passengers to fly each day during the first strike period, if it goes ahead. And an internal BA memo from chief pilot Doug Brown said the company was aiming to keep all its 777 long-haul planes flying throughout the strike.

BA added it had come to an agreement with 40 other carriers to allow customers to rebook their flights free of charge in the event of BA cancellations. Between March 20 and 22, 60% of long-haul flights to and from Heathrow will operate as planned, with 30% of short-haul flights to and from the airport to function.

Out of Gatwick, a full schedule of long-haul services will be in place, with more than half of short-haul trips to go ahead. Flights to and from London City will be unaffected by the strikes, as will services run by franchise partners.

In a statement, BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: “We are deeply sorry that our customers are the innocent victims of this cynical attack on their travel plans by the leaders of Unite.

”Despite the desire of Unite's leadership to ground the airline, the flag will continue to fly. Due to the numbers of cabin crew who have called in to offer their services over the weekend, the schedule will be slightly larger than we had originally anticipated“.

He added that BA was ”absolutely determined“ to find a sensible settlement with Unite. ”It is not too late for Unite to call off this action and we will do all we can to reinstate some of the cancelled flights,“ Mr Walsh said.

Joint general secretary of Unite, Tony Woodley, said the strikes would be suspended if the offer withdrawn by BA last Friday was reinstated.

”Put the offer back on the table and we will look sensibly at suspending the strike and we can hopefully find a long term solution to a very difficult subject,“ he said.

”At the moment British Airways does not want to negotiate - it just wants to dictate”. But BA hit back, saying their offer had been put to Unite three times already.