Article - SMH
British Airways has cancelled all flights in and out of London's Heathrow Airport until late on Friday after a series of wildcat strikes stranded thousands of passengers during the peak holiday season.

BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington said there would be no flights until 1700 GMT on Friday (0500 AEST Saturday) at the earliest after ground staff walked out, causing chaos at the world's busiest international airport.

"This unprecedented move is a result of the crippling operational impact of unofficial industrial action," he said in a statement.

At least 20,000 people were stranded on Thursday after some 120 BA flights at Heathrow were cancelled.

And Eddington said 100 planes and 1,000 pilots and cabin crew were stuck in the wrong places around the world after baggage handlers, loaders and bus drivers walked out in sympathy with workers at Heathrow caterer Gate Gourmet, which is caught up in a row with management.

The airline said it had booked "a few thousand" hotel rooms for passengers but some faced the prospect of spending the night at the airport.

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AdvertisementAirport staff handed out free bottles of water and engineers erected large marquees on the forecourt so that people would have somewhere to shelter.

Around 100,000 passengers fly daily with the airline during August.

"We've planned this holiday for 18 months and we're going to a wedding. We've saved long and hard for it. I'm gutted," said Ian Thompson, 51, who was trying to catch a flight to Los Angeles.

BA said it was contacting passengers to warn them about the situation before their flights.

Hundreds of flights operated by British Airways, Europe's third-largest airline, left London earlier on Thursday without meals on board for passengers due to the catering dispute.

Passengers were provided with food bags or vouchers at the airport before boarding flights.

The disruption at Heathrow intensified after BA suspended check-ins for its passengers at terminals one and four as a result of the dispute at Gate Gourmet.

That dispute had worsened on Wednesday when Gate Gourmet sacked around 350 workers who went on strike over the company's decision to hire seasonal workers, unions said.

A Transport & General Workers Union spokeswoman said the union was seeking further talks with Gate Gourmet and wanted to see the workers reinstated.

Gate Gourmet was not available for comment.

However, a company statement on Wednesday said the strike action, following more than 30 meetings between management and the union, had put the jobs of 2,000 of its workers at Heathrow under threat.

"These actions not only jeopardise the livelihoods of our entire workforce at Heathrow but also the services of major airlines and their customers," Managing Director Eric Born said in a statement.

He added: "If we don't change, the company will not survive and there will be no future. We now have to take control of this situation swiftly, which may lead to restructuring to avoid the total collapse of the company."

© 2005 AAP

ttt

Thanks for this. I'm glad I'm not there today, but I feel bad for those who are.

Just to let you know athat as of 9:45 BST it's still ongoing, and there's no end in immediate sight -all flights have been cancelled until atleast 18:00 BST.

They have of course to deal with throusands of passengers stranded overseas, so although it's real bad for those heading out what about all those stuck around the world and all the problems that causes, flight and cabin crew will also be 'out of hours' so that means a logistical nightmare with crewing. Feel sorry for those involved.

Feel even sorrier for any workers or shareholders in Gate Gourmet, the spectacularly inept company at the centre of all this.

Anyone hearing the head of their UK operation on the radio this morning would have realised that here is someone several hundred fathoms out of his depth, and that his macho posturing is the real problem. Which, incidentally, is the first time in thirty years I've been remotely inclined to sympathise with unions in a labour dispute.

BA will recover from this. Most of the thousands of customers who are seriously pissed off at what's been happening will gradually return. Including Mrs F, whose semi-lost baggage - stuck in the BA system - will foul up both our travel arrangements for the next month.

But all the world's major airlines will be deciding right now that Gate Gourmet are not a catering partner that can be relied on. And I wouldn't take bets on their surviving anywhere in a year's time.

I was just about to ask if you'd retrieved Mrs F from the BA runway!

>>>>>>>Feel even sorrier for any workers or shareholders in Gate Gourmet, the spectacularly inept company at the centre of all this.

Anyone hearing the head of their UK operation on the radio this morning would have realised that here is someone several hundred fathoms out of his depth, and that his macho posturing is the real problem.>>>>>>

Yank venture capitalists own it. Innit.