Pilot’s union calls off British Airways strike next week

Thursday, September 19, 2019

 In a bitter dispute over pay the members of the British Airlines Pilots Association (Balpa) were due to walk out for 24 hours. But the British Airways pilot’s strike due to take place on September 27 has been called off by the union.

On September 9 and 10 the previous strikes took place that had more than 1,700 flights cancelled and affected 200,000 passengers.

According to Balpa the previous strikes showed anger and resolve of pilots and it was a period of reflection before the disputes escalates further and irreparable damage was done to the brand.

Brian Strutton, general secretary of Balpa stated that someone has to take the initiative to sort out the  dispute and with no sign of that from BA the pilots have decided to take the responsible course and they lifted the threat of the strike on the 27 September.

A pay increase of 11.5 percent has been offered by the British Airways and this deal was consistently rejected by Balpa.

Strutton stated that the British Airways needs to wake up and realize that their pilots are determined to be heard.

Earlier they opted for big pay cuts to help the company go through hard times. Currently when BA is making billions of pounds of profit the pilots have made a reasonable and affordable claim for the pay and benefits.

The UK flag carrier will have already refunded or rebooked thousands of passenger whose flights were due to be affected to the planned industrial action despite the strike being called off.

According to a British Airways spokesperson they just got this news and were considering the implications and will be providing with the updates in the due course.

In the first of seven days of strike action this month, Balpa pilots working for Ryanair have walked out today. However, no flights were affected so far.

« Back to Page

• British Airways pilot strike over pay, nearly 100 per cent flights cancelled

• British Airways lost Cost of Appeal bid to block pilots from strike action