Heathrow Airport workers are going ahead with a ten-day strike causing travel disruption for thousands of passengers at the start of the Easter school holidays.
As many as 1,400 security staff from the Unite union have elected to walkout out for 10 days after they rejected the latest pay offer by the airport.
The union said talks broke down because Heathrow Airport Limited failed to substantially improve its 10 per cent pay offer, which comes after years of pay freezes during the Covid pandemic.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that the airport could afford to give a decent pay rise to its workers.
“This is a wealthy company which is about to return to bumper profits. In recent years it’s approved an astronomical rise in salary for its chief executive and paid out dividends to shareholders worth billions", Ms Graham said.
“Yet somehow, Heathrow executives seem to think it’s acceptable to offer what amounts to a real-terms pay cut to its security guards and ground staff who are already on poverty pay."
Will my dates be affected?
Picket lines will be in place across Europe's busiest transport hub throughout the 10 days of continuous strike action, which ends at 23.59pm on Easter Sunday April 10.
The strikes involves security officers at Terminal Five, which is used exclusively by British Airways, and campus security guards who are responsible for checking all cargo that enters the airport.
This means that anyone flying with the carrier from Terminal Five on outbound flights will likely face travel queues longer than usual, with subsequent knock-on delays to take off times a possibility.
Passengers travelling between Heathrow and the UAE are in the crosshairs as British Airways operates several direct flights between Heathrow and Dubai.
However, the airline does not fly directly to Abu Dhabi, so only those connecting will be directly affected.
Earlier this week it was announced that British Airways was required to cancel around 32 flights per day to and from Heathrow, or nearly 5 per cent of its daily flights these, due to the threat of the walkout.
The cancellations fell on short-haul routes and the long-haul services were not affected.
Airport 'operating as normal'
The west London airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye said it is “operating as normal” despite the industrial action and expected passengers to have a "good journey".
These claims will be put to the test as schools are expected to close for two weeks from Friday, meaning that airports will be busier than usual.
A total of 42 flights to and from Heathrow had been cancelled on Friday, according to the airport’s website.
Mr Holland-Kaye said that "experienced third party workers" have been hired to keep the airport "running smoothly". Members working in other areas of the airport have also been moved across to fill the gaps.
He also warned that passengers should not arrive for their flights too early as that could result in further issues.
“Please don’t come too early. Three hours is plenty for a long-haul flight, two hours for a short-haul flight, and we will get you to your destination on time," Mr Holland-Kaye said.
Data shows that the UAE was the most popular getaway during the February half-term for passengers flying from Heathrow Terminal Five. Dubai topped the destination list, followed by New York and Madrid.
A spokeswoman for Heathrow said passenger traffic between the hub and Dubai was 5 per cent larger in February compared to the same month in 2019.
Decades of flight: Heathrow through the years - in pictures
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Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images -
An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919 -
Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946 -
The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955 -
The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955 -
US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956 -
An aerial view showing the runways in 1958 -
The arrivals and departures board in 1960 -
A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961 -
The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965 -
The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965 -
Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966 -
Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969 -
An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970 -
Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971 -
Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973 -
Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976 -
Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977 -
Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977 -
An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978 -
Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979 -
Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981 -
British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984 -
Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 -
Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal -
Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003 -
Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003 -
Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004 -
Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period -
Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police -
Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007 -
The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008 -
Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016 -
Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century -
A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images -
Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold -
An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 -
British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 -
Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022
