British Airways operated around 60% of its flights on the weekend, as the cabin crew strike started to bite.

It is believed the carrier had trained more staff to take up the slack caused by striking workers, who have been unable to come to an agreement with BA.

The union representing the BA cabin crews had warned that the airline's efforts to overcome the strike with replacement workers would prove futile, but the airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, said that contingency plans had worked better than he had expected.

He also said more than two-thirds of the 1700 cabin-crew staffers who had been scheduled to work had shown up.

The current strike is scheduled to finish on Monday, although the union plans another walkout for March 27th through 30th.