BA Crew Lose in High Court

Air travel: Delayed, not cancelled

By Pilita Clark

Published: December 18 2009 22:26 | Last updated: December 18 2009 22:26

Altering an airline’s culture, Sir Rod Eddington once said, is like trying to perform an engine change in flight.

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For proof, one need only look at the predicament faced this week by the airline that Sir Rod once ran. Cabin crew at British Airways announced that they were going on strike, from three days before Christmas and for nearly two weeks.

BA won an emergency court injunction to halt the stoppage, to the relief of some 1m of its passengers around the world who had been booked to fly during the strike period. But in an industry that can produce spectacular displays of labour unrest, this is just a brief cessation of hostilities.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/db5b7336-ec0c-11de-8070-00144feab49a.html