British Airways landed as scheduled with 124 passengers on Saturday

BA 2157 landing Saturday afternoon at the RLB International Airport

ST. KITTS, MARCH 30TH 2010 (CUOPM) – For the second consecutive weekend, the British Airways flight into St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport on Saturday operated as scheduled. Authorities at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport said Monday that the British Airways flight arrived on time with 124 passengers 100 passengers were onboard when it departed for the V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua enroute to London-Gatwick.

British Airways is expected to introduce a second weekly flight into St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport on March 30 and this flight is not expected to be affected by industrial action. In London, the strike by British Airways cabin crew entered its third day on Monday, with more walkouts threatened for next month, as separate talks to avert the first national rail strike in 16 years got under way.

More than 120 BA flights from London’s Heathrow airport were cancelled on Monday, according to the BA website, but all flights to and from London City and London Gatwick airport were operating normally.

The walkout by BA cabin crew is the second this month in a dispute over changes to working practices which has cost the airline millions of pounds and damaged its reputation.

Passengers disembarking from BA 2157 shortly after it landed at the RLB International Airport on Saturday afternoon

The Unite union, which represents about 90 percent of BA’s 12,000 cabin crew, has threatened to call a third wave of industrial action after Easter if no progress is made, with crews likely to walk out again on April 14.

Both sides said they remained available for negotiations, but no dates were set for talks.

A BA spokesman said the airline was still on track to deliver its target of flying more than 75 percent of customers, adding that its service had been “significantly more extensive” during this strike period than the last, due to higher numbers of cabin crew reporting for work.

But Unite claimed BA was trying to run its service with only around 15 percent of cabin crew who should be working normally. BA, which wants to save an annual 62.5 million pounds to help cope with falling demand, volatile fuel prices and greater competition, said the last strike period cost the airline 7 million pounds a day.