Pilot blight: Strikes keep passengers grounded

It sounds like a glamorous life - being paid to jet around the globe. But, as a wave of strikes and go-slows prove, airline pilots are increasingly unhappy with their lot, writes BBC News Online's Jonathan Duffy.

The scene is depressingly familiar: sleeping bodies sprawled across airport seats, departures boards that announce every flight to be "DELAYED", weary airline staff trying to placate enraged passengers.

Summer has definitely arrived.

Airport misery: Lately pilot action has been the cause

Every year, come July and August, holidaymakers seem to find themselves unwitting victims of industrial action by aviation staff.

Air traffic controllers have got a bad name for going on strike just as the summer rush reaches its peak, but this year the focus has shifted to pilots.

A wave of industrial action by pilots seeking better pay has left passengers around the world facing severe delays or cancelled flights.

And in a number of notable examples, the striking pilots have been handsomely rewarded, sometimes with salary increases of up to 30%.

Now there are fears the industrial action will spread as crew with other airlines seek to match these generous settlements.

After striking, Lufthansa pilots won a 20% increase

It has even been reported that British Airways, where pilots with 20 years' flying experience can expect to earn about £110,000 a year, is braced for industrial action when new pay negotiations begin later this year.

The current trend for big increases was sparked last year by United, the world's biggest airline. Its 10,000 pilots won increases of about 24% after flight disruptions caused when many withdrew from voluntary overtime.

Delta followed this year with 24-34% pay increases for its pilots and earlier this summer Lufthansa settled for a 20% hike after a series of one-day strikes among its cockpit crews.

Cathay Pacific, the Hong Kong carrier, has struggled in the face of a pilots' union work-to-rule decree, and this month the Spanish flag carrier, Iberia, was beset by one-day strikes.

Dangerously exposed

All this comes on the back of a bumper year for many airlines. It seems pilots are keen to see a share of the spoils in their wage packet.

Pilots get their children's school fees paid as a perk

But the aviation industry is notoriously exposed to economic fluctuations and many are beginning to feel the pinch of the market downturn.

Companies have cut back on business travel - always a lucrative line for operators - and British Airways is among several carriers to have witnessed a drop-off in passenger numbers.

In addition, aviation fuel prices have risen and there is a shortage of experienced pilots in the jobs market.

Also, pilots' unions are traditionally well organised and pilots know they are operationally critical to their employers - a scheduled flight could take off with a slimmed down cabin crew, but without its pilots it's not going anywhere.

Costly strike

In 1998 American carrier Northwest learned how costly a pilots strike can be - it lost more than $1bn (£700m) in revenue during a two-week strike.

Airline alliances

Star Alliance includes Singapore Airlines, United, British Midland and Lufthansa

Oneworld includes Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, British Airways and Aer Lingus

Skyteam includes Delta, Air France, Korean Air

Ironically, the pilots' cause has been helped by the global "cost saving" alliances many airlines have formed with each other.

According to John Lindquist of Boston Consulting Group, pilots have formed staff associations within the alliances and used them as a forum for discussing pay and conditions.

Instead of driving costs down by drawing more on labour from partners in lower-wage economies, pilots have sought to use the alliances to pitch for American salaries.

So what are the omens for continued unrest in the coming months?

Capitalising on alliances forged by employers

Rebecca Langley, airlines analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, says BA staff are unlikely to match the deals sewn up by the Americans or Lufthansa.

"In the mid 1990s pilots at Lufthansa and Iberia opted for a salary cut or pay freeze to help the companies back to profitability, so they've always had that extra bargaining chip," she says.

The shortage of experienced crew has been a useful lever for pilots' unions in recent years. But with recession in the air, airlines will soon be trying to shed cockpit crew, says Philip Butterworth-Hayes, editor of Airport Review.

Differences disappear

There are other factors that will help keep in check lofty pay demands. The skills gap between well-off long-haul pilots and their lower-cost colleagues on short-haul routes is disappearing, thanks to so-called "cross crew training".

A340 cockpit layout: Similar to smaller Airbuses

"It's not about flying 747s anymore. There's not much difference between the cockpit of a [short-haul] A320 and a [long-haul] A340," says Mr Butterworth-Hayes.

The glut of lower-paid pilots employed by budget airlines has added to this downward pressure on salaries, and flag carriers such as BA rely more and more on franchised operators - aircraft decked out in BA colours but run by smaller companies.

"Pilots unions have traditionally been very strong and with profit margins in the industry so slim these days - 2% or 3% - it's important to keep them on-side. Even the threat of a strike can send a stock price plummeting," says Mr Butterworth-Hayes.

"As to whether these big increases will continue, I couldn't say for sure. It's a finely balanced debate."

But if BA's pilots do aim high, one city analyst points out that with profits looking shaky, the management would have good reason for refusing their demands.