Thomas Cook: More strike dates announced after first UK pilots' strike in four decades fails to ground flights

Airline says all passengers were flown to their destinations despite 12-hour stoppage

As the first strike involving UK pilots since 1974 ends, the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has announced three more strike days in the autumn. Thomas Cook Airlines pilots who belong to BALPA are set to walk out again on 23 and 29 September, and 6 October, in a dispute over pay.

The announcement came after a 12-hour strike failed to ground any of the airline's flights. However, further stoppages may be averted; the two sides are set to meet at the concilliation service, ACAS, on 12 September.

BALPA’s General Secretary, Brian Strutton, said: “I'm pleased that today's strike by Thomas Cook pilots has kickstarted negotiations. We will now focus on trying to make progress at five days of ACAS talks over the next two weeks.

“However, there is still a significant gap between us and Thomas Cook so we cannot assume that those talks will succeed. That's why we've set new strike dates. We urge Thomas Cook to come to the ACAS table with an acceptable offer so we won't need to use them."

The turnout in the strike ballot was 88 per cent with 91 per cent of pilots voting to take action in a dispute over their 2017 pay negotiations.

But the Chief Executive of Thomas Cook Airlines, Christoph Debus, told The Independent that its pay offer was above inflation. “In these times which are extremely challenging for the airline industry, it’s a very reasonable offer. BALPA has a claim which, if you sum all the elements up, is about 10 per cent [pay rise]."

The airline has rescheduled 28 flights to ensure its full programme can operate.

The flights due to operate within the 3am-3pm strike period were crewed by non-striking pilots and management. In addition, two aircraft were deployed from the airline’s German operation.

The union said "the news that many flights are expected to operate as usual" was welcome. "Thomas Cook customers are not to blame for this action," BALPA said in a statement.

The pilots’ strike follows the stoppage by British Airways mixed fleet cabin crew belonging to the Unite union for almost all of July and August.