BA prepares for flight-crew strike

LONDON, March 19 (UPI) -- British Airways said contingency plans were in place to continue some service if flight crews began their strike, as scheduled, at midnight Friday in Britain.

Talks continued to avert a strike of 13,000 workers, the Daily Telegraph reported.

BA said it had leased charter planes with crews to handle some flights. Trained crew members from other airlines would handle other flights. The airline expected to carry about 65 percent of the passengers it would have carried without a strike, the newspaper said.

If a Friday agreement was reached, it would be too late to recover all the cancellations. The strike has already cost BA about $38 million in lost business, officials said.