13.08.05
Hundreds of passengers bound for Heathrow passed through Newcastle Airport on Thursday night and Friday morning, after unofficial strike action by BA groundworkers caused chaos at Heathrow. The diverted passengers then faced a long journey from Newcastle to London by road, as BA flights between the two cities were cancelled.
Diverted flights from Tokyo, Tel Aviv and New York touched down in Newcastle last night and one from Hong Kong this morning. The airline was arranging coach or taxi travel to London from Newcastle for diverted passengers.
The action at Heathrow came after a breakdown in talks between the Transport and General Workers Union and airline bosses over reinstating 600 sacked staff from BA's caterers, Gate Gourmet. Around 1000 of BA's groundworkers went out on an unofficial strike in support of the Gate Gourmet staff.
All BA Heathrow flights were cancelled until 20:00 Friday evening, when a few flights took off. But BA said that it would not be able to fly a normal service today, as planes and staff were out of position. BA said that it would fly roughly 50% of domestic flights and 40% of international flights from Heathrow today.
Passengers due to travel to Heathrow are being advised to visit www.ba.com or telephone 0800 727 800. They should contact the airline or their travel agent to arrange a refund or rebook their travel plans.
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