British Airways secures union nod for Gatwick subsidiary

British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) will go ahead with plans to set up a London Gatwick-based subsidiary to operate short-haul flights following a breakthrough in negotiations with trade unions, according to UK news reports.

Luis Gallego, Chief Executive Officer of IAG International Airlines Group, told Bloomberg Television on November 8 a deal had been brokered with the airline’s pilots and flight attendants, leaving only terms with ground staff to be settled. “If we can close all of that we will start flying from Gatwick in March 2022,” he said. He reiterated the division was “not a low-cost carrier” but a more efficient platform.

Gallego said the airline and union representatives had reached a compromise on new employment contracts. As reported, talks restarted after the carrier earlier abandoned the plans and suspended short-haul international operations at Gatwick after the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) refused to back the deal over disagreements relating to benefits.

British Airways said its short-haul operation at Gatwick had been consistently unprofitable and it could not restart short-haul flights unless it was able to establish a competitive platform.

British Airways was not immediately available for comment.

The Mail on Sunday earlier reported that British Airways had finalised negotiations late last week with the Unite union, which represents more than 10,000 of the airline’s cabin crew as well as engineers and ground staff.

In an internal update to staff on Friday afternoon, British Airways Chief Executive Officer Sean Doyle said: “Our plans for a new British Airways-branded subsidiary to fly short-haul at Gatwick are progressing well, having received support this week from Unite. “While we still have some further negotiations to sort, it looks likely that we will be up and running to fly the summer schedule,” he said.