British Airways has won an important court ruling backing its controversial changes to cabin crew contracts which led to a reduction of staff on some routes. The UK Court of Appeal upheld BA’s move to reduce the crew complements on aircraft below the levels that had been agreed through collective bargaining between the airline and Unite. The Court ruled that although the contract changes had been implemented, there had “been considerable dissatisfaction both as to the effect of the new arrangements on working conditions and also with the manner in which the changes were effected”. Lady Justice Smith, one of the appeal judges, noted that if crew numbers were reduced “it seems to me that there must be some impact on individual workload”, but she added this impact was “not very serious”. She said that crew numbers impacted “to some extent upon the working conditions of individual employees”, but said that this must be set against “the disastrous consequences for BA which could ensue if the contract changes were not implemented”.
BA said in a statement: “We are pleased with today’s Court of Appeal judgment, confirming that the modest changes we made to onboard crew numbers on flights from Heathrow 12 months ago were reasonable, did not breach crew contracts and can remain in place.