Hundreds more f lights axed after walkout threat

BRITISH Airways and easyJet have axed hundreds more flights for July as plane refuellers voted to go on strike – threatening more travel misery for holidaymakers.

The two airlines told airport slot authorities over the weekend they were slashing 457 flights to European hotspots this month.

According to industry analysis seen by the Mail, BA is axing 319 flights from London City, Heathrow and Gatwick airports to dozens of destinations. Flights to Alicante, Palma and Amsterdam are among the worst hit. It comes on top of the flagship carrier cancelling 650 flights the previous week, affecting up to 105,000 passengers.

Meanwhile easyJet is cancelling a further 148 flights, from Luton, Gatwick and Manchester airports. Between June 5 and July 3 it pulled more than 1,000 departures. The Unite union announced around 50 staff at Heathrow who fuel planes will strike for 72 hours from 5am on July 21.

It has been designed to cause maximum damage, covering the first weekend of the school holidays – when millions of families are planning getaways.

The workers are employed by Aviation Fuel Services, one of four firms at Heathrow, who re-fuel around 150 planes daily. BA uses a different firm, meaning their flights will not be hit by major disruption. But 70 airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, KLM and Air France, will be.

Unite wants a double- digit pay rise for workers to call off the strikes after pay fell by 15 per cent over three years, it claims.

Unite regional officer Kevin Hall said: ‘Disruption can be avoided if AFS returns to the negotiating table and makes an offer that meets our member expectations.’