British Airways resumed limited flights at Heathrow Airport late on Friday as it tries to work through a crippling dispute that has grounded more than 100,000 of its passengers during the peak summer travel season.
"BA will fly a limited number of aircraft from 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) this evening. Only passengers with confirmed reservations for flights after 8 p.m. tonight will be accepted for travel. Other customers should not come to Heathrow tonight," a spokesman for the airline said.
Mike Street, the airline's director of customer services and operations, said BA faced a complex logistical challenge with at least 100 aircraft and 1,000 flying crew in the wrong place.
"As a result it will take some time to return to a normal flying program. We recognize how frustrating this must be but we are working as hard as we can to get customers away on their holidays," he said.
The move to resume flights at Heathrow came shortly after around 1,000 BA staff, who walked out on Thursday in support of workers sacked at a catering supplier, began returning to work.
Arbitrator ACAS began talks during the afternoon with the union and the catering supplier, Gate Gourmet.
"This is not our dispute. Our customers come first and everyone involved in creating this unofficial situation must come to their senses," BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington said.
Around 100,000 passengers fly daily with BA during August, and about two-thirds of its flights, excluding franchises, use Heathrow.
A BA spokeswoman said around 73,000 passengers were grounded on Friday after 40,000 passengers couldn't fly on Thursday.
Analysts said the cancellations could cost Europe's No. 3 airline tens of millions of pounds
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