Willie Walsh declares war on the unions

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh has today declared war on the Unite union confirming that he will "not let" the union drag the company down. In what is becoming an ever more bitter war of words the gap between the Unite union and the British Airways management has never been wider than today after talks earlier this week failed to clear the air.

While British Airways is standing firm on its demands to introduce mass cost-cutting to the business it is well-known that financially each and every strike day weakens the company's balance sheet and also impacts upon its market reputation. Indeed competitors are already increasing the price of their airline tickets purely and simply because they know there will be seven days of strikes in March. It is easy to forget that the airline industry is going through the toughest downturn in living history and at the moment it appears to be one thing after another for British Airways in particular.

Many people believed that the union and the management would already have struck a deal to get back to work and developments this week have caught many people by surprise. Quite where this will end is anybody's guess, but it is not doing British Airways any favours whatsoever.