Steve Fenton
Jul 26, 06, 10:00 am
See below news clip, hardly a cheap or reliable LCC but never the less could be worth noting to steer clear of
Pilots at budget airline bmibaby are being balloted on strikes that threaten to throw August Bank Holiday travel into chaos.
The move, backed by the British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa), is in a row over pay and the union has warned the campaign could extend to parent company, BMI, unless the dispute is resolved.
The row is over a 2.4 per cent pay rise and plans to increase pension contributions from 10 per cent to 18.5 per cent - which Balpa said would be the highest in the aviation industry.
The union is pushing for a "yes" vote and has already warned bank holiday flights could be disrupted.
Jim McAuslan, general secretary of Balpa, said: "The heart of these disputes is the total lack of respect shown by the company towards its key people - highly trained, highly professional airline pilots.
"Taking industrial action, especially around the August Bank Holiday, is the last thing we want but we are driven to it. We have tried reason and now we have nowhere else to turn."
Bmibaby flies from five bases - Cardiff, East Midlands, Durham Tees Valley, Birmingham and Manchester - as well as operating one route from Gatwick.
BMI's other services operate from airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Glasgow.
A BMI spokesman said: "Bmibaby management remain hopeful that its pilots will reject the ballot and accept the award that all other employees have received."
The result of the bmibaby ballot will be known in mid-August
Pilots at budget airline bmibaby are being balloted on strikes that threaten to throw August Bank Holiday travel into chaos.
The move, backed by the British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa), is in a row over pay and the union has warned the campaign could extend to parent company, BMI, unless the dispute is resolved.
The row is over a 2.4 per cent pay rise and plans to increase pension contributions from 10 per cent to 18.5 per cent - which Balpa said would be the highest in the aviation industry.
The union is pushing for a "yes" vote and has already warned bank holiday flights could be disrupted.
Jim McAuslan, general secretary of Balpa, said: "The heart of these disputes is the total lack of respect shown by the company towards its key people - highly trained, highly professional airline pilots.
"Taking industrial action, especially around the August Bank Holiday, is the last thing we want but we are driven to it. We have tried reason and now we have nowhere else to turn."
Bmibaby flies from five bases - Cardiff, East Midlands, Durham Tees Valley, Birmingham and Manchester - as well as operating one route from Gatwick.
BMI's other services operate from airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Glasgow.
A BMI spokesman said: "Bmibaby management remain hopeful that its pilots will reject the ballot and accept the award that all other employees have received."
The result of the bmibaby ballot will be known in mid-August