BA strike called off after last-minute deal

LONDON: A threatened two-day strike at British Airways this week was called off Monday after the airline hammered out a last-minute deal with unions.   

But the accord with cabin crew unions will come too late to prevent some disruption to flights at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Wednesday and Thursday, the airline added.    

The Transport and General Workers' Union has also agreed to call off two planned 72-hour strikes next month.   

"We are pleased that our negotiations with the T and G have resulted in an agreement that removes the threat of strikes," said BA chief executive Willie Walsh.   

"Unfortunately, the decision has come too late to prevent disruption to the travel plans of tens of thousands of our customers tomorrow and Wednesday," he added.   

But he said, "We will endeavour to reinstate as many flights as we can for those days. We will give more details later today."   

The strike call led the British carrier to announce last Friday that it planned to cancel all flights from Heathrow on Tuesday and Wednesday, and most from Gatwick. In all over 1,000 flights were threatened.   

BA executives were hugely relieved at the 11th hour agreement with union negotiators representing some 11,000 stewards and stewardesses.   

"We have always said that our cabin crew does an excellent job and we believe this agreement lays a firm foundation to enable us to provide even higher standards of onboard service for customers in the future," said Walsh.   

Investors also applauded the news, sending British Airways' share price soaring 3.08 percent in value to 543.75 pence in mid-afternoon trade.   

London's FTSE 100 shares index meanwhile showed a gain of 0.08 per cent at 6,232.70 points. Industry analysts had estimated that the walkout would have cost BA around 30 million pounds in lost revenue and other expenditure.    

Like other airlines, BA has had to pay huge amounts to boost security in recent years -- including 100 million pounds after police revealed a plot to down transatlantic airliners last year.   

BA has been investigated by Britain's Office of Fair Trading and the US Department of Justice over alleged price fixing and the whole industry is facing the prospect of environmental taxes to combat carbon emissions.   

Over the weekend there were some signs of progress aimed at persuading unions to call off their strike action. A spokesman said BA was offering to pay up to 200 pounds in "legitimate expenses" such as taxi, rail and bus fares to help employees come into work if they did not want to strike.   

The Guardian newspaper reported that around 3,000 flight attendants are not affiliated to the TGWU, and some of them had been due to work through the planned strike.