The British Airways’ Pilot Strike Was Canceled (But so Were 400 Flights)

The strike by pilots at British Airways (BA) originally scheduled for September 27^th were called off. However, 400 of the airline’s flights have been scrapped. A spokesperson for BA confirmed that it would operate “a schedule of merged services”.

Despite the fact that members of the union which represent the majority of pilots with British Airways (BA) called off the strike action initially scheduled for September 27^th, The Independent reports that over 400 of the carrier’s flights were scrapped on Friday. Members of the British Airlines Pilots’ Association (BALPA) carried out their strike earlier this month on September 9^th and 10^th, but as the outlet reports, the strike set for Friday was canceled on September 18^th.

As the outlet explains, this sudden change of plan still appears to have had a major impact on the airline because, “…by then BA had cancelled the vast majority of its flights – to give advance warning to passengers, and to avoid paying compensation under European air passengers’ rights rules by providing 14 days’ notice.”

Clarifying the reason behind all of the cancellations on Friday, the outlet states, “One reason appears to be the complexities of crewing rosters, and another is the likelihood that many would-be half-empty and therefore unprofitable as well as damaging for the environment.”

Both short-haul and long-haul flights operating from London’s Heathrow (LHR) and Gatwick (LGW) airports have been affected.

Offering their comments to the outlet, a BA spokesperson said, “We will operate around half of our flights today, with a schedule of merged services to our daily destinations across our global network.”