British Airways cancels over 100 flights over pilots’ strike

* to operate two flights to Lagos

For the umpteenth time, flight operations by British Airways would be disrupted for two days following the industrial conflict the airline is having with the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA).

The strike action which started on Monday would last 48 hours.

The airline has already notified passengers on the strike which is estimated to cost the carrier about £40m even as it might take place again on 27th September, if not resolved.

Daily Trust reports that the airline has also communicated with the Regional Manager of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in Lagos that there would not be flight on Sunday and Monday as a result of the strike.

In the letter sighted by our correspondent, the airline would deploy two aircrafts to operate out of Lagos on Tuesday to make up for the cancelled flights on Sunday and Monday.

British Airways, in a statement announcing the cancellations, said: “We had no option but to cancel nearly 100 percent of our flights.”

“All customers whose flights affected today and tomorrow were contacted the day we received strikes dates – on the 23rd August.

“Those customers were offered the opportunity to re-book dates, to a different destination or on a different airline – or offered a full refund.”

“So the vast majority of our customers have had their travel re-arranged for weeks now”, the airline said.

BALPA embarked on the strike over pay dispute which has remained intractable.

It made case for Pilots who took pay cuts in the years following the financial crisis to help shore up the company’s profile.

“The flag carrier is making around £2bn profit and the cost of BALPA’s latest proposal is less than £5m more than British Airways offered,” it said.

BALPA on its Twitter handle, said, “We put forward a proposal to BA management last Wednesday that would have enabled us to call off the strikes for Monday and Tuesday.”