British Airways (BA) said it had operated more flights than planned on Sunday, as cabin crew started a new five-day strike with little sign of a resolution to the long-running dispute.
The airline said it had reintroduced all of its services from its London Heathrow hub to New York’s JFK airport and would continue to add to its schedule where possible as crew defied the union and reported for work.
“Our global operations went very well throughout the first week of Unite’s strike action and got off to another good start today at the beginning of the second series of strikes,” BA said in a statement.
“We have announced a larger schedule at Heathrow for this round of strikes, because of the numbers of crew reporting for work,” it said.
“We will continue to operate 100 percent of our schedule at Gatwick and London City airports,” it said.
“At Heathrow, we will operate to more than 70 percent of longhaul flights [up from more than 60 percent last week] and more than 55 percent of shorthaul flights [up from more than 50 percent this week],” it said.
The Unite union challenged the figures, claiming BA had canceled more than 100 flights on Sunday and said its action continued to be strongly supported.
The latest strike is aimed at the British half-term school holidays with another five-day stoppage planned from Saturday, which would hit flights to the football World Cup in South Africa.
Derek Simpson, Unite’s joint leader, offered to conduct talks in the “full glare” of the media in a bid to find a breakthrough.
Simpson said people would be able to see how “unreasonable” BA chief executive Willie Walsh was being if they could witness the negotiations.
“I prefer these negotiations to be in front of a camera. Let the world see what this is all about. If people could see what he is doing, they would know who to blame,” Simpson told BBC TV.
He said the dispute could be resolved quickly if BA fully restored travel concessions taken away from crew who have gone on strike.
“It is all about confidence of management in the workforce and of workforce in the management,” he said. “Clearly there has been a breakdown. If we could get the confidence back a deal is doable.”
The two sides met for 12 hours at the conciliation services, Acas, over two days last week, with little sign of a breakthrough.
Simpson claimed Walsh said he would only meet for further talks after Unite’s annual conference, which was to open yesterday, in Manchester, England, and continues until the end of the current strike.
“We remain available for talks at any time,” BA said in response.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government