British Airways Strike

British Airways Strike updates :- QANTAS will take advantage of its alliance partner’s woes by filling seats during the peak Christmas period with passengers left stranded by a 12-day British Airways strike.

Although the strike throws into chaos the holiday plans of BA passengers during the busiest time of the year for travelling, industry insiders say it will be a boost for Qantas because it will enable the Australian airline to fill its aircraft during the highest-yielding period.

The challenge for Qantas, however, will be to find sufficient room on its aircraft.

”I can’t see it being a negative because they are pretty full anyway, so anything made to help BA is going to be icing on the cake,” an insider said.

Qantas dismissed speculation yesterday that it would pull long-haul aircraft off either the Pacific route between Australia and the United States, or from services to South Africa, in response to the greater demand on the kangaroo route to Europe.

Shares in Qantas rose 2c to $2.69 yesterday in its third straight day of gains, spurred on by Merrill Lynch analysts raising their recommendation on the stock from “neutral” to a ”buy” due to improving passenger yields.

”If Qantas has the capacity to carry all of the people on BA who cancel we will be more than happy,” the divisional secretary of the Flight Attendants Association of Australia, Michael Mijatov, said yesterday. ”It provides extra revenue to the company.”

Yesterday Qantas sought to allay fears the strike from December 22 to January 2 will pose problems for Qantas passengers who are due to board BA connecting flights in London bound for other destinations in Europe.

The airline said it would provide ”alternative options, where possible, for other customers, such as those booked on BA services into Europe out of London”.

Source smh.com.au