Why did BA cancel flights?
The airline blames its decision to cancel flights on staffing shortages, bad weather and technical difficulties. The situation was made worse by the fact that when BA tried to clear its backlog on Monday it was hampered by a European night ban which regulates when planes can take off and when they can land. But staffing remains its biggest problem as new employees are unable to start work until detailed security checks have been carried out, the airline says. At Heathrow alone, the company employs 2,000 passenger handling staff – such as ticket and check-in workers – but as a result of sickness they are about 150 workers down. One expert suggested that staff decided to “pull a sickie” after the Bank Holiday strikes were called off. Others claim BA’s staff problems are due to a fundamental unhappiness in the workplace, reflecting the fact that staff have been pressured by management to work harder for less. “Basically I think their problems, looking at the surprise walkouts by check-in
