With the approach of the busiest travel week of the winter, travellers by air and rail are facing cancellations, disruptions and delays. More than 80 outbound flights from the UK have been cancelled because of the weekend fog and more than 10,000 airline travellers are facing the wrath of the schedule. In addition, severe weather in the northeast US and a scattering of technical issues have delayed transatlantic flights.
The busiest day for the pre-Christmas getaway is Friday 23 December for many of the British airports. However, the Unite union called on a 48-hour strike by 1,500 Swissport ground staff starting from that day across 18 airports in the UK.
Unite’s national officer for civil air transport Oliver Richardson said that their members are only taking this industrial action as a last resort in a bid to reach a fair settlement as they did not get any pay rise since 2014. Talks are due to take place at the conciliation service, Acas. If the strike goes ahead, the main impact is likely to be on airports in the Midlands, north of England and Scotland, as well as Belfast International. Stansted, the biggest base for Ryanair will also be impacted, as Swissport is the ground handler of it. Ryanair has insisted its passengers to take hand baggage only in the earlier ground-handling disputes.
Pilots working for Virgin Atlantic will begin an indefinite work-to-rule in a dispute over union recognition. Although Virgin Atlantic said that, they will take actions to ensure that their flying programme remains unaffected during this period.
On the rail network south of London, conductors working for the train operator, Southern, are also striking following the long-running dispute about whether they or drivers should open and close doors. Southern has already alerted its passengers to ‘expect disruption every day until further notice because of the refusal of drivers to work overtime and upcoming conductor strikes’.
