BA flights to Malta 'on schedule'

British Airways flights from Malta to Gatwick and Manchester were unaffected yesterday by the unofficial strike at Heathrow that left thousands of passengers grounded.

British Airways' Malta manager James Stagno Navarra said when contacted that all the airline services from Malta were operating on schedule.

The unofficial industrial action started on Thursday evening after a walk-out by about 1,000 of the airline's ground staff in support of catering workers that were laid off.

By last night, however, about two thirds of the 1,000 British Airways staff involved in the unofficial strike started returning to work but passengers were awaiting news about their flights.

"While this is good news, we still have 100 aircraft and 1,000 flying staff in the wrong positions around the world and some ground staff that are not working normally," Mr Stagno Navarra said.

It was reported by the British media that talks between union bosses and the catering firm Gate Gourm were to start "shortly" to try to resolve the situation.

British Airways usually runs about 550 flights a day from Heathrow during the holiday season and the strike also affected Qantas, Sri Lankan, Finnair, GB and British Mediterranean that are serviced by British Airways' ground staff.

"We had some passengers on the way to Malta via Heathrow from Sydney and Singapore who have now been re-routed to Paris," Mr Stagno Navarra said.