British Airways cancelled all long and short-haul flights due to depart from London’s Heathrow airport and diverted arriving flights after an industrial dispute escalated.
The company said flights would remain grounded until at least 6pm (5pm GMT) on Friday.
The cancellations were announced after British Airways’ staff joined an industrial dispute between the airline’s caterer Gate Gourmet and its work force.
A union representing Gate Gourmet, which provides meals for British Airways flights, said the company had fired 800 workers on Wednesday. The company said only 667 workers had been dismissed.
British Airways’ workers, including baggage handlers and loaders represented by the same union — the Transport and General Workers union — stopped work on Thursday in sympathy with the sacked catering staff.
Later on Thursday, another union representing British Airways check-in staff advised their members to stop work for health and safety reasons after disgruntled passengers took out their frustrations on staff.
British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington said in a statement on Thursday that the cancellations were necessary because of ”the crippling operational impact of unofficial industrial action by staff from the Transport and General Workers Union”.
”Because we have not had sufficient airport staff to operate flights into or out of Heathrow, nearly 100 of our aircraft and 1 000 pilots and cabin crew are in the wrong places around the world and we simply cannot mount a robust operation any earlier,” Eddington said.
”It is a huge disappointment to us that we have become embroiled in someone else’s dispute. I have urged the Transport and General Workers Union and Gate Gourmet managers to resolve this dispute and end this misery for our customers.”
Earlier on Thursday, British Airways planes took off from Heathrow without catering facilities. Passengers were given food parcels to take on board with them, or offered vouchers to buy food at the airport before boarding.
No other airlines were affected by the dispute at Gate Gourmet, which is owned by United States company Texas Pacific Group.
British Airways has about 550 flights a day in and out of its main hub, Heathrow, carrying around 100 000 passengers.
The airline estimated 70 000 passengers would be affected by the cancellations.
Passengers booked on flights with a further five airlines that use British Airways’ ground staff at Heathrow airport — Sri Lankan Airlines, Finnair, GB Airlines, British Mediterranean Airlines and Qantas — could also face delays or cancellations.
Gate Gourmet claimed that workers staged an unofficial strike, but the Transport and General Workers Union accused managers of deliberately provoking the dispute.
The company reported a loss of £23-million ($41,25-million) last financial year, and was expecting a £25-million ($44,84-million) loss for the current year. – Sapa-AP