French strike hits BA flights
Industrial action stranded passengers in Rome on Sunday
More than 100 flights between the UK and France have been cancelled because of an air traffic controllers’ strike on Tuesday.
At least 90 out of 120 British Airways scheduled flights will remain grounded while the planned strike is held between 0500 and 2200 BST.
BA flights to and from France will be affected at Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh airports.
“British Airways apologises to all customers for any inconvenience caused by the industrial action which is beyond its control,” the company said.
Bmi, formerly British Midland Airways, said it was operating only six out of its regular 24 flights to and from France.
The strike is part of a continuing protest by French workers over proposed pension reforms.
The Foreign Office warned the strike by several trade unions was “likely to cause severe disruption throughout the transport sector”.
It advised people to check with travel agents before travelling.
Stranded
The move came as it was feared British tourists heading home after the half-term school holidays could be stranded in Italy after the national carrier Alitalia cancelled dozens of flights.
About 50 flights from Rome and Milan, including flights to London, were cancelled on Sunday.
Thousands of passengers were left waiting hours for flights after many flight attendants called in sick for a second consecutive day over concerns about job fears.
French strike action on 27 May forced BA to cancel all but 17 of the day’s 100-plus flights.
By: EGNM - 4th June 2003 at 22:50
i’l let u off this time!
By: wysiwyg - 4th June 2003 at 14:59
Oh I see. I thought you had meant going to EMA for routine maintenance.
By: EGNM - 4th June 2003 at 13:05
Originally posted by wysiwyg
I really don’t know for sure Mongu but I’d hazard a guess not.Preston – I think it would be a very poor show to divert the flight for maintenance with pax on board. I should think it more likely that a re-route caused inadequate fuel reserves.
Sorry Wys it was actually a maintainance issue in the end. Upon arrival at Malaga the a/c had a poor breaking performance. I think the conbination of having a longer Rwy at EMA along with bmi engineering overnight proved to outweigh EGNM
By: Hand87_5 - 4th June 2003 at 11:35
And I’m affraid that the game is not over ! 😡
By: wysiwyg - 4th June 2003 at 11:29
I really don’t know for sure Mongu but I’d hazard a guess not.
Preston – I think it would be a very poor show to divert the flight for maintenance with pax on board. I should think it more likely that a re-route caused inadequate fuel reserves.
By: mongu - 4th June 2003 at 00:13
Can airlines recover anything from their insurers in respect of lost flights due to 3rd party strike action?
By: EGNM - 3rd June 2003 at 22:28
similar story at Leeds – the CDG runs cancelled – no Nice today, thats usually cancelled with Jet2 if the French strike – interesting to note the EXS266 in from Malaga this evening diverted to EMA – Not sure on fuel state with possably a re-aranged routing?
My main theory was she’d gone to bmi mainatainance for some work overnight – pax busses to LBA
By: wysiwyg - 3rd June 2003 at 21:38
Well all the cancellations meant I managed to go LGW-PMI-LGW on a normal routing at normal levels with very little delay. Lovely jubbly!
By: Saab 2000 - 3rd June 2003 at 20:08
Our Aurigny Dinard flight was cancelled plus the Twin Jet Jersey-Cherbourg- Orly flight was cancelled. Nothing major but still quite annoying to see it happening yet again.
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June 3, 2003 at 12:32 am