Agents play down BA strike impact
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The region’s travel agencies have said recent British Airways strike action impacted sales, but did not wreak as much havoc as they anticipated.”Our sales for BA were more than the same period last year, but that’s because our business has grown in general,” said BCD Travel Managing Director Sumit Acharya.”However, while our total March sales were much higher than February, BA sales were lower than February, so it’s safe to assume that there was a negative impact of the strike.”Another agent, who wished to remain unnamed, conceded that BA sales at his agency had plummeted during the industrial action period.’However, it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be as many flights still operated,” he said.Acharaya concurred: “A number of BA flights did operate into this region on the dates in question so disruption to travel plans was not significant,” he said.”However, since there was advance notice, a number of clients did play safe and book with other airlines like Emirates and Virgin.”He said despite the switch selling to other carriers, he had not noticed an increase in the fares of rival carriers despite reports they were cashing in on BA’s misfortune.Acharya also believed the damage to BA’s reputation amongst the corporate travel community as a result of strike action was “limited”.
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