British Airways (BA) will increase staffing at its hub in London’s Heathrow Airport by 5 per cent to minimize the risk of any disruption in the peak summer season.

The carrier, owned by IAG SA, expects this summer to be its busiest since the pandemic and will hire about 350 new workers to fill customer service and ground handling roles, a spokesperson for the airline said. The airline is also upgrading some of its computers and other technology at the hub.

The airline is adding people as part of a broader transformation plan being implemented by chief executive officer Sean Doyle. BA improved its on-time performance in the first quarter, Doyle said at the IATA annual meeting in Dubai.

BA laid off thousands of staff during the Covid pandemic and struggled to rehire as travel rebounded sharply in the subsequent years. It has also struggled with creaking IT systems repeatedly failing in the busiest months, stranding passengers with last minute flight cancellations.

While it is building a new IT system, that upgrade will not be fully rolled out by this summer so the extra staff are key to ensuring operations run smoothly, the spokesman said. - Bloomberg