Heathrow airport expects no cancellations due to summer strikes

(Alliance News) - Strikes by security guards at Heathrow are unlikely to cause flight cancellations, the airport's boss said.

More than 2,000 members of the Unite union will walk out for 31 days from June 24 in a dispute over pay.

For the first time, security officers based at Terminal 3 will join their colleagues from Terminal 5 and campus security who have already taken industrial action.

British Airways, part of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, cancelled around 5% of its schedule at Heathrow during strikes over the Easter holiday period, but no flights were grounded due to walkouts during last month's half-term break.

Heathrow said it carried 6.7 million passengers last month, up 26% from a year before.

The airport said it currently has more daily flights between the UK and US "than ever before", as airlines switch capacity to North Atlantic routes from Europe and Asia, whose travel markets have been slower to recover from the Covid 19 pandemic. In May, 1.6 million of the passengers using Heathrow flew across the North Atlantic, representing one in four of all passengers flying between the US and Europe.

Heathrow Chief Executive Officer John Holland-Kaye said: "We have delivered excellent service to passengers, with no cancellations, over eight days of strikes on the busiest days in May, and do not anticipate cancellations as a result of strikes during the summer holiday getaway."

Last week, Holland-Kaye urged Unite to put the airport's latest proposal of a 10% pay increase and GBP1,150 lump sum to a vote of its members as "we know that most of our colleagues would accept the offer that we have on the table".

The union previously said its members have been "crystal clear they are seeking a substantial permanent increase in pay".

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham has said security staff at Heathrow "can barely make ends meet and are paid far less than workers at other airports".

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

source: PA

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