British Airways has suspended almost all flights for the first strike of its history

The strike, brought about by a claim for wages, This could affect more than 100,000 pbadengers, as the company operates approximately 850 flights per day in the UK, mainly from Heathrow and Gatwick airports, both in London.

Heathrow, one of the largest airports in the world, had less activity this Monday morning. Terminal 5, used by British Airways, looked sorry, with empty cafes and long lines of taxis that no customer found, according to the BBC.

British Airways had already warned its customers that on Monday they could not travel because of the strike.

The company, which belongs to the Spanish-British group IAG, which also includes the Spanish airlines Iberia and Irish Aer Lingus, has offered travelers to return their money or move their reservations to another date.

It is about the first strike launched by British Airways pilots and expected to continue Tuesday and 27 September. Nearly 93% of BA Balpa union members voted in favor of the strike. The union decided to strike after the failed negotiations on wage increases. BA has proposed a wage increase of 11.5% in three years, an offer rejected by the union. According to Balpa, pilots have made "sacrifices" in recent years and now want to benefit from the good results of the company.

BA in turn said in a statement to be "willing to resume negotiations with Balpa". According to the company, the proposed increase would raise the salary of some commanders to more than 200,000 pounds a year ($ 250,000).

Balpa explains that, according to his calculations, a strike day would cost BA 40 million pounds, far more than the difference between the management pay proposals and those demanded by the pilots, an amount not exceeding five million pounds. .

This movement worries investors and the share of the group IAG, parent company of BA, lost 1.81%.

This historic strike comes at a difficult time for BA, the iconic national airline whose reputation has been affected in recent years, due in part to the theft of financial data last year by hundreds of thousands of pbadengers.

In addition, in May 2017, a major breakdown had affected their systems due to a power supply problem, which had resulted in the cancellation of 726 flights, which had affected 28% of their devices during the three days of an extended weekend.