British Airways plans full festive service in spite of strikes

British Airways said on Monday that it would run a full service on Christmas Day and Boxing Day despite the strike action proposed by cabin crew.

Alex Cruz, chief executive of BA, which is part of International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), said management had been working on "detailed contingency plans to ensure that we are able to operate our normal flight program from all our airports" on both days.

"We are making sure that this attempt to ruin Christmas for thousands of our customers fails," he said, while also urging the Unite union to abandon their call for a strike.

"We continue to seek a non-disruptive solution to issues of concern to our Mixed Fleet colleagues. That is why we initiated the talks at the conciliation service ACAS today."

Unite represents around 15% of BA’s cabin crew.