British Airways scraps flights over pilot strike impact

Bloomberg

British Airways cancelled dozens of flights on Wednesday as it wrestled with the fallout from a two-day pilot strike.
While more than 90 percent of services will operate as normal, the morning timetable is subject to changes as the UK arm of IAG SA works to get hundreds of planes and pilots back into position, the carrier said in an emailed statement.
BA, based at London Heathrow airport, scrapped all but a handful of flights during the 48-hour walkout on September 9 and 10.
The strike action impacted travel plans for close to 200,000 people and cost the airline $49 million a day based on its own estimates.
“The nature of our highly complex, global operation means that it will take some time to get back to a completely normal flight schedule,” BA said.

Fewer Flights
The two sides remain deadlocked in their dispute over pay following the strike, with the British Airline Pilots’ Association saying BA must return to the negotiating table with “meaningful proposals” to avert the next scheduled walkout on September 27, or face the likelihood of further protests.
Almost half BA’s fleet of more than 300 planes, together with 700-plus pilots, began Wednesday out of position, BA said, while in excess of 4,000 cabin crew have had their rosters disrupted and some won’t be able to fly due to legal rest requirements. Affected customers can claim a refund, switch to dates, or be rebooked with another carrier.
Pilots want BA to make the next move after it dismissed a revised pitch from Balpa prior to the strike as costing an extra 50 million pounds.