Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Travelers to or through the UK will need to check for last minute changes Friday, as the two-week school spring holidays begin, with British Air workers scheduling a four-day strike that starts Friday night. British railway workers are also planning a strike after the weekend. BA said Friday morning that it is able to add more flights because of the larger number of crew not joining the strike, which Unite, the union disputes.
Updates: BA Swiss page, BA strike news, British National Rail strike news
British Air staff have voted in favour of a 12-day strike starting 22 December. Britain’s largest airline is widely expected to create chaos if the strike over the end of year holidays goes ahead. The 22,000 employees polled voted 92.5 percent in favour of the strike, to protest cost-cutting measures. The airline had a record loss in the six months that ended 30 September 2009. BA has posted information for travelers on its web site.
Spanish air carrier Iberia and British company British Air (BA) have ended 16 months of negotiations with an agreement to merge as equal partners, but the deal is far from done. The new company would be tax resident in Spain, but the head office would be in Britain. BA’s pension plan debt of £2.66 billion, exactly equal to the value of the company, must be brought under control or Iberia could still back out of the deal, according to the terms of the agreement. Iberia Friday morning 13 November posted a nine-month pre-tax and interest operating loss of €331 million, higher than analysts expected, for a net loss of €181m during the period. The new airline, which does not yet have a name (TopCo is being used temporarily), would be Europe’s third largest, after Lufthansa and Air France-KLM.
Links to other sites: El Pais (Spa), Financial Times, London Stock Exchange news, Times, UK
