Chief Executive of British Airways Says He Won’t Back Down From Unite
Dave BondAccording to the Chief executive of British Airways, Willie Walsh, he is not prepared to cave in to the union. The chief executive of the airline sent a very defiant message to the striking cabin crew. This message was that he will flight for as long as it takes to win this battle.
Mr Walsh, while speaking at the International Air Transport Association annual summit in Berlin, gave a very clear signal that he is determined to break the union of its so-called stranglehold on the airline. He said that he does not think that they have been brave enough in the past to stand up and simply say no.
Willie Walsh went on to say that they will hold out for as long as it takes, and they will continue to build up the amount of flying that they are doing. They are in an industry that needs change, this can no longer be ignored.
British Airways racked up a pretax loss of about £531 million in the year to March 31. To this, Walsh said that it’s not about travel. This is not the issue at the heart of the dispute. This is about ensuring that British Airways has a cost base that is on an equal footing as its competitors.
The airline, which says it is losing some £7 million a day from the walkouts, just suffered its 21st day of strike action this year. The latest five day strike ends today. However, British Airways says that a record number of cabin crew members are now deciding to cross the picket line and return to work.
Despite the strike, the airline is doing rather well. The carrier was able to still operate 80 percent of its long haul flights from Heathrow. Other airports like London City and Gatwick were not affected at all by the strike.
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Filed under Business & Finance, Travel News, UK News