Airports walkout could hit New Year flights

Travellers returning from their Christmas and New Year holidays face chaos as airport staff are poised to go on strike.

Workers at Heathrow and other major airports across the country have voted in favour of strike action in a row over pensions.

The result of the strike ballot among the 5,000 employees will be declared at the end of this week, raising fears any action will hit the first flights of the new year.

Senior officials of Unite, the largest union, say reports from local representatives show there is "overwhelming support" for industrial action.

Gatwick and Stansted are among other airports which could face shutdown on strike days.

By law the union must then give seven days' notice of any action meaning the first walkouts could take place from Thursday 27 or Friday 28 December.

Union leaders, however, are unlikely to order walkouts before the New Year saying they are "mindful" of the holidays but also the adverse public reaction.

Cabin crew working for Virgin Atlantic are also involved in a separate strike ballot over pay. That result is expected at the end of the week.

In the larger dispute airport firefighters, security, maintenance and clerical staff have been called to support strike action in protest over plans by airport owner BAA to close its final salary pension scheme to new employees.

Flights from BAA-owned Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports also face major disruption or even closure.

The service between London and Holland is Europe's busiest international route, latest figures show.
There are 350 weekly departures between Heathrow and Amsterdam, airline information company OAG reports.
Including flights within countries, Heathrow-Amsterdam is the eighth busiest European route, with Barcelona-Madrid in Spain topping the worldwide list, with 971 weekly departures.
For routes linking two countries, the busiest is Bahrain-Dubai, with 184 flights a week.