BA and easyJet shares rise on FTSE 100 and 250 as budget airline attempts to steal customers with "striking offer"

British Airways cabin crew are currently preparing for a three day strike starting on 20 March, followed by a four day strike on 27 March. The dispute centres on working practices imposed by the airline to cut costs.

Although BA claims that it will still be able to run all of its long haul services and more than half of its short haul services with the help of trained volunteers, easyJet has, without any hint of irony, offered BA Executive Gold card holders what it calls a “Striking offer”.

Under the offer easyJet said it would be offering free speedy boarding plus to BA Gold card holders that had been affected by the upcoming strike. The budget airline made a similar offer when a strike was on the cards before last Christmas.

Paul Simmons, easyJet’s UK general manager, said, “This is a golden opportunity for BA’s Gold card holders to try life on the other side of the runway, its much better than you think!”

Figures produced this week by the Civil Aviation Authority found that easyJet is Britain’s most popular airline for the second year running, with 28.1 million passengers flying on easyJet to or from British airports. Ryanair came a close second with over 28 million passengers and British Airways came in at third with 26.2 million passengers.

By 10:09 shares in easyJet were up 0.56 per cent on the FTSE 250 to 447.50 pence per share. Meanwhile on the FTSE 100 BA shares rose 1.20 per cent to 243.70 pence per share.