Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 11:49AM

The Chief Executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Giovanni Bisignani called recent union-led walkouts at major airlines “nonsense,” and demanded that they “stop picketing and cooperate,” at the IATA’s annual meeting yesterday, in Berlin. Aggregately, airlines will enjoy a 2.5 billion dollar (USD) profit this year (2.1 billion EUR; 1.7 billion GBP), a marked improvement over the IATA's March forecast.

However, this latest forecast includes European-based carriers, which, aggregately, are expected to lose 2.8 billion USD (2.3 billion EUR; 1.9 billion GBP) due to the severe interruption in operations caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, in south-central Iceland, over this past April and May. For the year, the German airline Lufthansa had already lost 59.7 million USD (49.9 million EUR; 41.4 million GBP) due to a pilots’ walkout in February, which Lufthansa received a German court order to stop.

The United Kingdom’s British Airways has lost 173.2 million USD (145 million EUR; 120 million GBP) over the course of the several cabin crew union strikes against it which have occurred in the last few months. Despite this, British Airways’ CEO Willie Walsh called it “business as usual” at the U.K.’s highest-profile airline. Mr. Walsh has been criticized by the leaders of Unite the Union, which represents British Airways’ cabin crew employees, for going to Berlin for the IATA meeting instead of staying in London to negotiate.

The IATA was founded in 1945, and has been headquartered in Montreal, Québec, Canada since 1977. As of this post, it represents 230 airlines, on all six inhabited continents. The legal and business entity now called Lufthansa was founded in 1954. Lufthansa is based in Cologne, Germany, and is the German flag carrier. It is the largest airline headquartered in Europe, by number of passengers carried. British Airways is based in the borough of Hillingdon in London and uses nearby Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR; ICAO: EGLL) as its hub. It was formed in 1974, with the merger of the British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways. Unite the Union is a British and Irish trade union formed in 2007 with the merger of Amicus the Union and the Transport and General Workers’ Union.

related stories

British Airways will expand its immediate-term flight schedule (June 4, 2010)

British Airways will expand its immediate-term flight schedule (May 26, 2010)

Unite the Union begins strike series against British Airways (May 24, 2010)

In Europe, ground transportation bookings are up significantly (May 21, 2010)

The Unite strikes against British Airways are back on (May 21, 2010)

Unite is barred from going forward with BA strike action (May 18, 2010)

British Airways has released its contingency plan for the first strike (May 15, 2010)

British Airways and cabin crew union are trying to avert strikes (May 12, 2010)

original story (Reuters)