News

A dispute between British Airways and its pilots has been referred to an independent third party for conciliation.

An earlier ballot carried out among members of the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) concluded with 86% of members voting for industrial action.

The dispute relates to BA OpenSkies, the airline's new transatlantic subsidiary, and reported plans to staff the airline with crews on inferior terms to those of its existing employees.

Following the ballot, representatives of BA and Balpa gathered at what was described as a 'positive meeting' near the airline's headquarters at Heathrow airport.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, said: 'We welcome the progress made today and are confident that a settlement can be achieved through conciliation which will protect our customers from the possibility of disruption.'

Jim McAuslan, Balpa's general secretary, said that the result of the ballot underlined the strength of feeling among members regarding the potential implications of the launch of OpenSkies.

He added: 'We have no quarrel with the travelling public and have always maintained that these issues could be resolved through negotiation rather than confrontation.'

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