BA Strike Update: T5 a Ghost Town as Cabin Crew Strike Hits Hard

LONDON, March 20, 2010 - With 80 percent of cabin crew standing strong on the first day of the BA
stoppage, Unite has issued an update of how the strike is biting so far,
which reveals that BA's much-vaunted contingencies plans are failing :

    - BA has managed to fly only one third of its normal scheduled
      departures;

    - BA's flagship terminal T5 is a ghost town as passengers stay away;

    - The first long haul BA flight out (10am) was to Abu Dhabi and crewed by
      6 pilots and 2 international cabin crew;

    - From 12.20pm until 2.30pm only 10 flights departed from Heathrow,
      normally there would be 50 during the same period; of the 10 which left,
      8 flights were chartered and only 2 were BA flights;

    - By lunchtime today, 85 BA planes were parked at Heathrow - consuming
      the maximum parking space allowed for BA aircraft;

    - 20 more planes had been moved to Cardiff to be parked, and a further 20
      flown to Shannon, in western Ireland, to sit out the strike;

    - By 2pm, only one flight to JFK airport had departed - normally there
      are five;

    - At Gatwick, one third of flights have failed to take off;

    - BA planes are taking off empty, save for cargo, as BA stretches
      efforts to make it seem it is functioning;

    - On average only 14 passengers are travelling on those flights which are
      taking off, far short of capacity;

    - Two strike-breaking chartered flights did not depart because of technical
      problems;

    - By mid-morning around 113 BA passengers had complained about the
      poor quality of food on-board the flights; and

    - There are reports of no food on in-bound flights from Germany and
      Italy.

For further information, please contact Pauline Doyle on +44(0)7976-832-861.