UAE airlines have issued travel advisories to passengers travelling to the United Kingdom, as the country is heading towards one of its largest strike in decades.
Majority of the British public workers, including teachers, health workers and civil servants are planning to go on strike against the government’s decision to make them work longer in order to be get more pensions.
The plan is also to make the government workers retire later.
“As a result, all Emirates flights to and from the UK on that day may be disrupted or forced to be cancelled. Passengers are strongly encouraged to consider alternate travel days,” a statement by Emirates airlines said.
Emirates has offered passengers who have already been booked and ticketed to travel to/from the UK on November 30, 2011 to have their tickets rebooked/re-issued for travel on November 28 – 29, or December 1-7, at no additional cost.
Etihad airways which operates flights to both London Heathrow and Manchester says the strike will most likely affect operations at all UK border crossings and has the potential to cause disruption at all UK airports.
“At this stage Etihad flights will be operating as scheduled, but due to the anticipated disruption, it is possible Etihad guests may experience long delays in waiting to clear immigration at both airports on this day. Any guests wishing to change their itinerary are advised to call Etihad office or their travel agent.”
As more information regarding the impact of the strike becomes available in the coming days Etihad will provide regular updates on whether or not there will be any disruption to Etihad services. Passengers have been urged to regularly check the flight tracker which is updated every five minutes, before heading to the airport.
As many as two million public servants are expected to join a day long protest on Wednesday. Several airlines have already issued warnings to passengers travelling to the UK of a possible 12-hour delay at immigration halls.