British Airways said it planned to run more than 80 percent of its scheduled flights from Heathrow Airport yesterday, but warned it would take several days to clear a backlog of thousands of passengers stranded by a daylong walkout by ground crew.
As talks continued to end the catering dispute that triggered the chaos, the airline said it hoped 420 of its 500 scheduled flights would fly -- 85 percent of short-haul flights and 80 percent of long-haul flights.
"We are working as hard as we can to ensure that people's plans are not disrupted further," British Airways spokeswoman Sophie Greenyer said.
Though all of the 1,000 striking workers returned to their jobs on Friday afternoon, hundreds of flights had been canceled at one of the world's busiest airports during the peak of the summer travel season.
Some 70,000 BA passengers were stranded on Friday, half at Heathrow and half at other airports hoping to fly to Heathrow. Another 40,000 travelers were disrupted on Thursday, the airline said.
On Friday night, BA sent 32 flights from Heathrow, half to British or continental European locations, the rest on long-haul routes to the Middle East, Asia and the US.
But it will take several days before all the stranded passengers were helped, the airline said.
The airline had to get 100 aircraft and 1,000 flight crew stranded by the industrial action back where they belonged, spokeswoman Becky Thornton said.
"It will take several days to get some stability to our schedule," she said.
The chaos grew from a dispute between catering workers and US-owned firm Gate Gourmet, which provides onboard meals for British Airways flights. The workers' union said the company had fired 800 staff on Wednesday after an unofficial strike. The company said 667 workers had been dismissed.
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