A 10-day strike by 1,400 security officers at London Heathrow Airport started on March 31 after an eleventh-hour attempt to avert the walk-out failed.
The Unite trade union said March 30 negotiations with Heathrow management "failed to resolve the current pay dispute" as the airport, which reported a £684 million loss in 2022, "failed to substantially improve its pay offer and was only prepared to offer a lump sum payment as an addition to the current offer".
"Heathrow can afford to pay a decent pay rise to its workers," said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, describing it as "a wealthy company which is about to return to bumper profits".
Aviation analytics firm Cirium said the airport is scheduled to see 6,253 departures, equating to over 1.3 million seats, during the strike, which will run throughout Easter.
British Airways was scheduled to operate around half the flights. The carrier had by March 30 cancelled flights equating to almost 13,000 seats due to the strike, according to Cirium, and was warning the same day that it was "expecting some delays at the airport" if the strike went ahead.