London’s Heathrow Airport said it’s confident it can avoid flight cancellations in coming weeks even as security staff threaten to strike on almost every weekend during the busiest travel period.
“We have delivered excellent service to passengers, with no cancellations, over eight days of strikes on the busiest days in May, and do not anticipate cancellations as a result of strikes during the summer holiday getaway,” Heathrow’s CEO John Holland-Kaye said in a statement on Monday.
More than 2,000 security officers at Heathrow, the UK’s biggest airport, will strike nearly every weekend from mid-June to the end of August, according to the Unite union. The walkouts are the latest in a dispute over pay amid soaring inflation and a cost of living crisis. Train drivers, teacher and junior doctors have also gone on strike in the UK this year, causing disruption to services.
Passenger traffic at Heathrow rose 26 per cent to 6.7 million people traveled through the airport in May, the hub said. There are now a record 248 daily flights between Heathrow and the US, as airlines pivot from European and East Asian services, Heathrow said.
