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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- British Airways cancelled all its flights from London's Heathrow Airport on Thursday at the peak of its summer holiday season, stranding some 20,000 passengers, following a series of wildcat strikes.
Suitcase-laden travellers crowded the entrances to the world's busiest international airport after baggage handlers, loaders and bus drivers walked out in sympathy with workers at Heathrow caterer Gate Gourmet, which is caught up in a row with management.
BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington said the company had cancelled 120 flights Thursday.
The company later said it cancelled all flights into and out of Heathrow until 1 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) Friday.
"I apologise unreservedly to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans and cancellation of our flights," he said in a statement.
Around 100,000 passengers fly daily with the airline during August.
Some 14 aircraft due to land at Heathrow on Thursday afternoon were diverted to other British airports, a BA spokesman said.
The disruption at Heathrow intensified after BA suspended check-ins for its passengers at terminals one and four as a result of the dispute at Gate Gourmet.
"We've planned this holiday for 18 months and we're going to a wedding. We've saved long and hard for it. I'm gutted," said Ian Thompson, 51, who was trying to catch a flight to Los Angeles.
Hundreds of flights by British Airways, Europe's third-largest airline, left London earlier in the day without meals on board for passengers.
The spokesman said earlier that around 1,000 BA baggage handlers stopped work during the dispute.
Food bags and vouchers
The airline was struggling to put up passengers who had already checked in for their flights in hotels around Heathrow and advising others to return on Friday.
British Airways said it had booked "a few thousand" hotel rooms for passengers but many faced the prospect of spending the night at the airport.
Airport staff handed out free bottles of water, and engineers began to erect large marquees on the forecourt so that people would have somewhere to shelter.
BA said it was contacting passengers to warn them about the situation before their flights.
Passengers caught up in the disruption over airline meals earlier in the day, before the cancellations, were provided with food bags or vouchers at the airport before boarding flights.
The dispute worsened on Wednesday when Gate Gourmet sacked around 350 workers who went on strike over the company's decision to hire seasonal workers, unions said.
A Transport & General Workers Union spokeswoman said the union was seeking further talks with Gate Gourmet and wanted to see the workers reinstated.
A Gate Gourmet spokesman was not available for comment.
A company statement on Wednesday said the strike action, following more than 30 meetings between management and the union, had put the jobs of 2,000 of its workers at Heathrow under threat.
"These actions not only jeopardise the livelihoods of our entire workforce at Heathrow but also the services of major airlines and their customers," Managing Director Eric Born said in a statement.
He added, "If we don't change, the company will not survive, and there will be no future. We now have to take control of this situation swiftly, which may lead to restructuring to avoid the total collapse of the company."
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08-11-2005 10:29 PM
