The month of September saw British Airways service crippled by a large pilot strike by the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA). The strike hit hard at flight service in major airports like Heathrow. It also cost the company nearly £125m. Pilots had asked for a better pay and perks package than what the company was willing to offer. However, a vote on Monday finalised the pay deal which 90% of the BALPA pilots employed by the British Airways accepted.

In September, British Airways saw the largest pilot strike in its century-old history. The strike grounded more than 1,700 flights, cost the company millions, and perturbed over 200,000 passengers. Brian Strutton, the general secretary of the BALPA, claimed that pilots had accepted pay cuts and supported the company when business was down. Now that the company is raking in profits, the pilots deserve their fair share of it.

After the crippling strike in September, BALPA members were ready to stage a highly-detrimental strike during the holiday season. To ensure that the holiday traffic is unaffected, British Airways decided to offer a revised pay deal in November.

British Airways airliner
British Airways pilots accept revised pay deal. Reuters

According to the revised pay deal, the pilots will get a pay raise of 11.5% over a span of three years with inflation protection. The inflation protection clause ensures that the pay rise will be in-line with inflation. Apart from the steady and increased pay hike, the perks that had been stripped from the pilots ahead of the strike would also be reinstated.

Under the supervision of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), British Airways was able to offer the pay deal to the pilots. A vote on December 16 by the BALPA pilots showed nine to one support of the new deal offered by their employer. This means that 90% of the pilots accepted the new deal put on the table.

British Airways and BALPA have come to an agreement to ensure that the holiday service is not hampered. Even though all of the pilots' demands were not met, British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz has managed to end the threat of a strike.

The Telegraph pointed out that the cabin and ground crew might also be offered a similar pay deal.