NEWSFLASH - BRITISH AIRWAYS TO ACCOMMODATE 60% OF PASSENGERS OVER STRIKE

BRITISH Airways has announced that it will be able to accommodate 60% of booked passengers over the first wave of strikes by cabin crew on March 20-22. In its published 'contingency' schedule the airline aims to fly around 45 000 passengers each day, representing 60% of passengers originally booked to fly on these days. In addition, passengers will be offered seats on alternative British Airways flights or on services operated by other airlines. So far, the airline has cancelled both daily Johannesburg flights and one Cape Town service. The other daily Cape Town flight is expected to operate normally, scheduled for departure from Heathrow at 21h50. However, BA Spokesperson, Stephen Forbes, has said that flights from Johannesburg to London Heathrow will continue to operate. The airline will be positioning aircraft to get the schedule running as soon as possible. Forbes stressed that the most updated information would be available on ba.com and that people should not leave for the airport before checking if their flights were operating or before collecting passengers. The airline said it would further accommodate agents and passengers by extending its call centre hours. Agents and passengers are, however, advised against contacting the call centre for general information or queries. All information will be available on the website. So far the majority of flights between March 23 and march 31 remain in the schedule and customers due to fly over the second strike period from March 27 - 30 will be notified of any changes after the first strike period has ended. In the first strike period, the airline will operate all long-haul flights to and from Gatwick and more than half of short-haul flights at the airport. All flights to and from London City Airport will be unaffected by the strike. At Heathrow the airline will continue to operate more than 60% of its long-haul flights to and from the airport during the first three days of the strike. The airline will operate some of its own short-haul flights at Heathrow, and will supplement its schedule by leasing up to 22 aircraft with pilots and crews from eight different airlines based in the UK and Europe. This will enable BA to operate around 30% of its short-haul schedule. British Airways has also agreed with 40 other carriers that customers can be rebooked free of charge during the actual strike period on to their flights if they had been due to travel on a BA flight which has been cancelled. Customers should check their bookings on www.ba.com to see if their flight is still operating. At this stage the vast majority of flights between March 23 and March 31 remain in the schedule and the airline will update customers due to fly during the second strike period (March 27 - 30) after the first strike period has ended.

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