British Airways staff at London’s Heathrow airport have voted in favor of a strike for better pay, trade union GMB said, in a move that threatens to disrupt Britain’s busiest airport during an already chaotic summer for air travelers. Unions representing the workers say demands for a 10% pay cut imposed during the pandemic to be rolled back have not been met. Air passengers across Europe have already faced delays and cancellations of hundreds of flights in recent weeks as airports struggle to cope with a shortage of trained staff and strong post-pandemic demand. Any strike by Heathrow staff is likely to add to the pressure.<br/>
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Qantas has announced it will be further cutting domestic flights to help combat rising fuel prices while Jetstar CE Gareth Evans is departing his role at the end of the year. Qantas revealed the news in a trading update, saying it will cut an additional 5% of domestic flights for July, August and September. This comes on top of a 10% reduction announced in May. The departure of Evans comes after two decades at the company, during which Evans has also served as Qantas CFO and CEO of Qantas International. He started as Jetstar CEO in 2017. The carrier also announced up to 19,000 employees across the Group will be offered a $5000 payment as the carrier continues to recover financially from the pandemic. Qantas revealed a $1.5b drop in net debt over the past six months. Qantas’ share price has lifted in early trade, advancing 0.7 per cent to $4.55 at 10.22am AEST. The one-off payment comes as part of efforts to hang onto staff amid mounting passenger frustrations about the airline. The boost, which will cost the group $87m, will be only for Qantas workers covered by enterprise bargaining agreements. Management and senior executives are not eligible for the payment.<br/>
Qantas’ landmark first flight between Perth and Rome took off on Wednesday night – marking Australia’s only direct service to mainland Europe. The 787, VH-ZNF msn 36239, left the WA capital at 10:34pm as flight QF5 and is on course to land on Thursday at 7:24am local time. It comes weeks after Qantas launched the first non-stop flight between Perth and London. The popular UK route had been on pause since the beginning of the pandemic, with Qantas opting to shift the layover from eastern states headed to London from Perth to Darwin due to WA’s “conservative border policies”. Meanwhile, the airline’s QF1 route, which operates from Sydney-Singapore-London on the airline’s flagship A380 aircraft, resumed from 19 June — meaning Darwin will no longer operate as an entry or exit port for Qantas flights to London. Qantas also operates QF1 from Melbourne-Perth-London six times per week, with flights departing every day except Thursdays. The flight comes on the same day The West Australian reported Qantas was close to agreeing a new three-times weekly flight from Perth to Johannesburg.<br/>