The head of Europe's biggest airline, British Airways, had a constructive start to the first of his meetings with trade unions today aimed at ending one of BA's most costly labour disputes in a decade.
"They were very sensible and constructive discussions," BA Chief Executive Mr Rod Eddington told reporters after a 35 minute meeting with GMB union General Secretary Mr Kevin Curran. Mr Eddington is to meet the other two unions separately later today.
"I think we are both committed to ensure that we find a sensible, negotiated solution to this problem," Mr Eddington added.
The airline, whose shares were off 1.5 per cent in afternoon trade, lost tens of millions of pounds and suffered a loss of face with travellers when a wildcat strike a week ago at its main London hub forced it to scrap more than 500 flights.
Mr Curran told reporters that the talks were held in a "very positive environment" and the union looked forward to resuming talks in front of the independent arbitrator tomorrow.
Together, the three unions Mr Eddington is meeting claim to represent most BA check-in staff, who walked off the job at Heathrow airport for about 24 hours from July 18th in a dispute over a new "swipe-card" system for clocking on and off.
Mr Eddington has said BA, heavily in debt and struggling to cope with a series of industry crises, cannot afford another strike at Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport.