BA strike – live: Heathrow Terminal 5 looks like a 'ghost town' as 1,700 flights cancelled amid pilot walkout
The 48-hour strike is the biggest walkout in the airline’s history
British Airways pilots are walking out for 48 hours in a row over pay.
It's the biggest walkout in the airline's history, with almost all flights cancelled.
British Airways has warned passengers not to show up at the airport if their flight is cancelled.
Follow below for live updates.
British Airways pilots who are members of the British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa) walked out at midnight in a 48-hour strike over pay.
The airline has grounded almost all of the 1,600-plus flights due to operate to and from Heathrow and Gatwick over the next two days.
A further walkout is planned for Friday 27 September.
Despite widespread cancellations today, a few flights are still running.
The Independent's Simon Calder has identified three routes that BA flights will operate: Gatwick to New York JFK, which is currently operated by a third-party airline, Evelop; Heathrow to Cairo, flown by Air Belgium; and an inbound BA service from Sydney via Singapore.
Here is everything you need to know about the British Airways strikes.
All British Airways flights from London City Airport are operating as normal this morning.
London Heathrow's terminal 5, which would usually be packed with departing British Airways passengers, looks like a "ghost town" this morning.
Thankfully the England rugby team managed to get to Tokyo on their British Airways flight, which left the UK yesterday.
The Rugby World Cup in Japan starts in 10 days.
The flight departure board at Heathrow terminal 5 looking quite empty today, showing a total of 10 departing flights.
These are the handful of British Airways flights currently in the air across the Atlantic Ocean and Europe, according to Flight Aware.
In an update on its website this morning, British Airways said it is "extremely sorry" that the strikes are going ahead, despite "many months of trying to resolve the pay dispute".
Unfortunately, with no detail from BALPA on which pilots would strike, we had no way of predicting how many would come to work or which aircraft they are qualified to fly, so we had no option but to cancel nearly 100 per cent our flights.
We remain ready and willing to return to talks with BALPA.
Our customer teams – supported by additional colleagues - have been working tirelessly to help as many of you as possible and to provide options, including a full refund or re-booking to a different date of travel or alternative airline.
We are offering all affected customers full refunds or the option to re-book to another date of travel or alternative airline.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments