Catherwood LibraryILR School

The head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said at the opening of their annual meeting that airline unions should stop striking and look farther into the future. He called the strikes "nonsense" and said that the unions need to "cooperate." The IATA has announced that they expect the airline industry to have $2.5 billion in profit this year, but European airlines have been hit hard. Many lost money from the volcanic ash, and strikes have hampered both Lufthansa and British Airlines. Long-running protests at BA have so far cost the airline around $173 million. The CEO of BA said that the unions were failing in their efforts to hurt BA, and that they would continue to fail. He also said that the cuts being protested against were necessary, and no strike would convince him otherwise.