British Airways is to cancel nearly 1,000 flights out of Heathrow over the next three months after admitting that it is “short of staff in some areas”.
The decision comes after the carrier’s punctuality rates plummeted, especially at Heathrow.
Chief executive Rod Eddington said: “We made this decision earlier this month as a precautionary measure to help ensure the robustness of our operation. We recognised some time ago we were short of staff in some areas and our recruitment programme is now bringing new staff on line.
“This is about giving some leeway to our operation as the principle carrier at the world’s busiest international airport – an airport which remains crammed to capacity.
“By slightly reducing our flying programme we improve our ability to react effectively to the technical issues that face all airlines every day. The reduced programme gives us more available stand-by aircraft and greater flexibility.”
Among European destinations affected include Edinburgh, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Munich, Frankfurt, Brussels, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Long-haul services that will be affected include New York, Los Angeles, Dubai and Hong Kong.
More details on the cancellations appear at www.ba.com, on the Flight Operations News page.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd
