London (AFP)
British pilots British Airways (BA) have resigned their strike scheduled for September 27, said Wednesday the union Balpa who intends to make a gesture to find a solution to the ongoing wage dispute.
"Someone must take the initiative to resolve this conflict and without news of BA the pilots have decided to act responsibly," said Brian Strutton, secretary general of Balpa in a statement.
The union believes that it is time to prevent a worsening of the situation before "the damage to the brand is irreparable", as the reputation of the airline has been put to the test with this social movement and for two years by IT failure and passenger data theft.
"I hope BA and its owner IAG will be as responsible as the pilots," said Strutton.
Balpa also warns that if the company refuses new negotiations, the union reserves the right to announce new days of strike.
Asked by AFP, British Airways had not yet responded to the cancellation of the strike day of 27 September, Friday next week.
The pilots had already been on strike for two days, the first of their history, on 9 and 10 September, which forced the company to cancel almost all of its flights in the UK, 1,600 over two days, affecting 200,000 passengers .
British Airways, which loses £ 40 million for each day of its drivers' disengagement, had begun to prepare for the third strike day on 27 September by canceling flights and warning travelers.
The union and the company are at odds over wages, with pilots demanding more profit after sacrifices on their payrolls in the past years when the historic British carrier was struggling.
The pilots had recently refused BA's proposed 11.5% salary increase over three years, which would bring the pay of some captains to £ 200,000 a year (€ 226,000).
© 2019 AFP