TRACEY BOLES Scotland On Sunday, Online, 29/08/04
BRITISH Airways chief executive Rod Eddington has admitted for the first
time that too many check-in staff have been made redundant under cost
saving initiatives implemented after September 11, leading to the scenes of
chaos at Heathrow last week.
Dozens of flights were cancelled because a shortage of check-in staff meant
passengers could not be processed. Eddington said: "I?ll be the first to
admit the cuts were too deep in this area. But we had to do it, we had no
choice. I wouldn?t still be here if we still had £6.5bn worth of debt on
the balance sheet."
Last week he was reported as saying he did not believe the City?s investors
had pushed the airline too hard to make cuts.
Pilots and cabin crew are among the 200 volunteers, including Eddington and
other senior airline executives, drafted in to staff Heathrow check-in
desks and terminals this weekend as the airline strives to avoid a repeat
of last week?s pandemonium over what is the busiest holiday period of the
year.
Eddington promised to conduct a "thorough investigation" into last Monday?s
events when BA was forced to cancel 51 flights, blaming lack of manpower
and technical problems.
The Australian, who has been at the airline since 2000, said it was too
early to say whether management heads would roll over the debacle which
stretched into Tuesday and Wednesday as more flights were axed and queues
built up.
Full story at
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com...?id=1011662004