BRITISH Airways risks losing the support of the lucrative
business travel community after thousands of passengers were left
stranded at Heathrow due to staff shortages.
Corporate agents have been left scrambling to rebook customers
on to alternative flights after nearly 90 flights were cancelled
due to technical problems and a lack of staff.
Bath Travel business travel division sales and operations
manager Alan Field said: “Business travellers won’t be happy.
Last year we had wildcat strikes, then the threat of more
industrial action and now this.
“BA has to reinvent itself if it wants to remain the choice of
the corporate traveller.”
He claimed the ‘bread and butter’ short-haul sector
has been neglected in favour of front-end long-haul business.
Leading aviation analyst Chris Tarry said BA has a difficult job
to repair its tattered reputation. “There will be a number of
people who will book away from the carrier and try something else
because they are fed up.”
The airline gave a frank apology. UK head of sales and marketing
Tiffany Hall said: “Our reputation has been damaged and we have to
work hard with our customers and key partners to repair that.
“What happened was not acceptable and not to the standard our
customers expect. We offer our sincerest apologies.”
Unions said they warned BA about staff shortages last year but
the airline failed to react.
A GMB spokesman said: “It has not only cut into the fat, it has
cut into the bone. Service is bound to be hit.” The carrier said
around 200 staff are currently being trained.
The cancellations came only days after BA had fought off
proposed strikes. It has agreed to an 8.5% pay increase over three
years and to give ground staff a further £1,000 payable in
lump sums up to September 2006.
In return, the unions have accepted a “robust” absence policy
which targets a reduction from an average of 17 days per employee
to 10 days within 12 months