London (AFP)
The airline British Airways (BA) canceled again almost all its flights in the United Kingdom on Tuesday the second day of a strike of the pilots and without solution in sight in this social conflict relating to the wages.
This is the first strike in their history for the pilots of the iconic British company that celebrated 100 years of existence at the end of August.
BA posted on its website a statement identical to Monday, announcing the cancellation of almost 100% of its flights, mainly at London airports in Heathrow and Gatwick.
As the day before, about 850 flights are removed on the day, affecting more than 100,000 passengers.
The travelers concerned had been informed in recent days of the probable cancellation of their flights by the company which offered them refunds or reservations on other dates.
The pilots began their move Monday and must continue on September 27. About 93% of BA Balpa union members, around 4,000, voted for the strike.
"Despite the olive branch stretched last Wednesday by Balpa, there is currently no negotiation planned and the strike continues," the union said in a statement Monday night, ensuring that the first day of strike was followed massively. .
"British Airways must start listening to its pilots and really come up with solutions to this conflict," said Brian Strutton, secretary general of Balpa.
BA has proposed a salary increase of 11.5% over three years, which would bring the pay of some captains to 200,000 pounds a year, but this offer was considered insufficient by Balpa who claims a better sharing of the profits of the 'business.
The strike is a further blow to the reputation of the company, owned by the Spanish-British group IAG, which also includes Spain's Iberia and Ireland's Aer Lingus.
The company had already suffered in the past two years from massive financial data theft of hundreds of thousands of passengers and a giant computer failure.
© 2019 AFP