At the same time, there have been more rail union votes to strike at operators including the LNER, potentially intensifying transport disruption over the summer. BA said its move was designed to “protect holiday flying” following the chaos seen over the Easter and half-term breaks due to airline and airport staff shortages. It will cancel an average of around 100 flights a day as it continues to struggle to meet its schedule amid labor shortages and threatened strikes at Heathrow’s main hub. BA said all affected flights in the latest round of cancellations would be short-haul, where there are more multiple daily departures on long city routes. It follows a similar number of precautionary cancellations made in early May for the entire summer period and comes on top of a relatively small number – around 650 – falling out of July schedules last week. The airline said the entire aviation industry “continues to face significant challenges and we are fully focused on developing resilience in our operation to give customers the certainty they deserve”. The latest route cut, which saw almost one in seven of BA’s flights originally issued, was made possible by the government’s “slot amnesty” announced last month. This has allowed BA and others to scale back operations this year without losing valuable landing slots at Heathrow and other busy airports, which typically have a “use it or lose it” rule. BA said: “The Government has recently decided to give the whole industry relief to minimize potential disruption this summer. While taking further action is not where we wanted to be, it is the right thing for our customers and colleagues. This new flexibility means we can further reduce our schedule and consolidate some of our quieter services so we can protect as many of our holiday flights as possible.” It said most flights were unaffected and the majority of customers would depart as planned, but added: “We do not underestimate the impact this will have and are doing everything we can to restore their travel plans. We are in contact to apologize and offer rebooking options for new flights with us or another airline as soon as possible or for a full refund.” Meanwhile, hundreds more staff at three train operating companies have voted in favor of industrial action, potentially increasing the impact of rail strikes this summer. TSSA union members at LNER, the East Coast long-distance operator, and Essex commuter service c2c voted for strike action, while those at Northern voted for non-strike action. The vote results follow similar strike votes in CrossCountry and the East Midlands on Tuesday and in Avanti last week. The union said it would not immediately set dates for industrial action, but would discuss next steps with workplace representatives at each agency. He had previously suggested the action could affect the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham at the end of the month. TSSA members vary across a range of roles for train companies, including stations and ticket offices, customer service, control and train management. Union members at Network Rail are largely in the managerial ranks who were working as emergency staff when signalmen in the RMT union went on strike last month, allowing a limited number of trains to run on long lines. A coordinated strike could bring services to a complete halt. The result of the TSSA strike ballot at Network Rail is expected on Monday. The union Aslef, which represents train drivers, will announce the results of votes in nine train operators on the same day, while the RMT union, which represents 40,000 rail workers across 13 train operators and Network Rail, is continuing talks to resolve of his difference on Monday. Subscribe to the Business Today daily email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter @BusinessDesk
