British Airways strike continues

By DPA,

London : British Airways cabin crew continued their strikes Sunday, with the airline saying flight schedules were less disrupted than originally feared.

Although some flights were cancelled and others suffered long delays, many passengers could travel as planned at airports, BA said. The strike is intended to continue till Monday, with another four-day walkout scheduled from March 27.

The airline had prepared contingency measures in the long-running dispute and even hired additional aircraft and crews from other airlines.

However, both British Airways and the union Sunday claimed to win the stand-off. The union said 80 percent of their members had joined the strike, turning Britain's biggest airport Heathrow into a "ghost town" as planes were left empty. Meanwhile, the airline said many employees had shown up for work.

However, the company has suffered damages of millions of euros as passengers cancelled bookings or opted for competing airlines to travel, reports said.