British Airways is considering wet-leasing aircraft and even providing additional training to enable other staff to fill cabin crew positions, following the renewed strike threat by flight attendants.
While the carrier has been engaged in talks to resolve a dispute with its cabin crew, the Unite union declared today that it would open a strike ballot next week.
The ballot, which will be held from 25 January, follows an abortive attempt to strike in December, when London's High Court ruled the previous ballot illegal.
A spokesman for BA says that the carrier "very much hopes" that industrial action will not go ahead, and says that the airline is prepared to "keep the dialogue going" with cabin crew representatives over the issue.
But he states that the airline is looking at options to keep its passengers from suffering disruption to flights.
These options "may involve wet-leasing", he says, but adds that the airline is also exploring the possibility of offering short-term additional training to other staff sectors, in order to provide additional cabin crew capacity.
Unite's dispute centres on new cabin crew working practices, introduced last November, but it says two weeks of discussions with BA have not yielded a result.
"We have been engaged in intensive discussions with the company over the last few days, but unfortunately we have not been able to secure an agreement yet," says Unite assistant general secretary Len McCluskey.
The ballot date potentially puts the airline at risk of service disruption in the run-up to the Easter holiday period in March-April.
But McCluskey stresses that the union wants to continue talks with the airline to reach a settlement, adding: "I hope the company will make the best use of the time available before the ballot closes."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
