New peace hopes as BA chiefs join talks

Prospects of an end to the British Airways dispute increased today when company chiefs resumed peace negotiations with union leaders at the TUC headquarters.

The move follows individual meetings yesterday between BA chief executive Rod Eddington and heads of the three main unions involved.

BA is desperate to avoid more wildcat action in the "swipe card" dispute which has cost the airline more than £50million and caused holiday travel chaos for thousands of Heathrow passengers.

Leaders of the Transport and General Workers, the GMB and Amicus unions met at the TUC HQ this morning for what were originally billed as inter-union talks. After two hours, the talks - described a s "positive" - were adjourned and the TUC invited BA negotiators to join them.

However, more trouble was heaped on BA today as it topped an airline league table of passenger complaints. In the 12 months ending in March it attracted 257 complaints, compared with 117 in the previous year.