British Airways said today that it would fly more than 75% of customers booked to travel during the four days of strike action which begin from midnight tonight.
The airline said it expects to handle more than 180,000 of the 240,000 people who had planned to travel from March 27-30. BA said a further 18% have been re-booked to travel on other carriers, or changed the dates of their BA flights to avoid the strike period.
Several thousand customers had brought forward their departures to today, it added.
BA said that, over the next four days, it would fly a full, normal schedule from Gatwick and London City Airports. At Heathrow, BA said it would operate 70% of its long-haul programme (up from 60% in the first strike period from March 20-22) and 55% of its short-haul programme (up from 30%).
Walsh standing firm over withdrawal of travel perks
Meanwhile, British Airways' boss Willie Walsh stood firm today over the airline's decision to withdraw travel perks from striking cabin crew as the company made final preparations to deal with a fresh walkout.
Mr Walsh said staff knew they would lose their travel concessions if they joined the three-day walkout last weekend.
The Unite trade union has accused BA of 'unacceptable anti-union bullying' by taking away the travel perks, but Mr Walsh denied this.
Mr Walsh said there were no plans for fresh talks with the union to try to resolve the bitter row over jobs and cost-cutting.
The union has insisted that any peace deal must now include giving back travel concessions to cabin crew, as well as reinstating a number of staff who have been suspended as a result of the dispute.
Mr Walsh said the strikers knew their perks would stop and he would not 'compromise' on this issue. He rejected suggestions that the withdrawal of concessions was a 'punishment' or attempt to 'break the union'.
'We told them about the consequences if they went on strike,' he added.
Mr Walsh said he remained available for talks, adding that he had met TUC general secretary Brendan Barber earlier this week.
No Spanish deal yet
Iberia and British Airways have yet to conclude a merger agreement despite a Spanish media report that it would be approved yesterday, the Spanish airline said.
A Spanish business newspaper said last week that the two companies would approve the planned merger at board meetings on March 25.
Iberia's chairman Antonio Vazquez said last month that there would be a deal within weeks and that the merger would be finalised before the end of the year.
The two airlines signed a preliminary deal last November after more than a year of negotiations, but Iberia said at the time it would back out of the agreement if BA's giant pension deficit problem was not resolved.
A tie-up between Iberia and BA would create Europe's second-biggest airline by market capitalisation after Lufthansa, combining Iberia's strong presence in Latin America with BA's position in North America, Asia and Africa.
