BA cancels more flights
LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Airways has canceled eight transatlantic flights over the UK holiday weekend as the disruption due to staff shortages continues.
The BA 289 flight from London Heathrow to Phoenix Saturday and its return journey Monday, BA 288, now will not fly, a spokesman told CNN.
In addition, BA 115 London Heathrow to New York JFK and its return, BA 114 is cancelled Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Six UK domestic flights -- return journeys to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Manchester -- from Heathrow were scrapped Friday.
Two short-haul European return journeys Saturday to Amsterdam and Copenhagen have also been axed.
However, BA stressed that the total cancellations over the Bank Holiday weekend in the UK represented only 0.4 percent of the airline's operations.
Two hundred BA staff including the airline's Chief Executive Rod Eddington and 11 directors have had volunteered to work over the weekend at Heathrow to help minimize further disruption.
"It's a busy weekend for us but we expect things to run smoothly," said BA.
The airline had to cancel 50 flights on Monday because of the staff and technical problems, with thousands of passengers having their travel plans severely disrupted. A further 31 flights were axed on Tuesday, 14 on Wednesday and eight on Thursday.
The airline, which usually carries about 100,000 passengers throughout the day, urged all passengers to consult its Web site before traveling to Heathrow.
Staff shortages are blamed for the disruption on top of demand in one of the biggest holiday weeks of the year in Britain.
BA is short of 30 key staff at Heathrow's short-haul Terminal 1, though a number of newly-trained recruits are due to begin work next week.
The airline last week headed off a strike planned for the August 28-31 Bank Holiday weekend by offering its baggage handlers and check-in staff more pay. The airline is also recruiting more staff.
Workers have complained that they are underpaid and overworked, particularly during the busy summer vacation periods at Heathrow.
Passengers affected by the delays and cancellations were being accommodated on later flights, provided with overnight hotel accommodation or being asked to rebook their flights.
