Good Morning Britain's Simon Calder said it "feels like the end of summer as we know it" as British Airways workers voted for strike action.
The travel expert appeared on today's edition of the ITV news programme to discuss the ongoing chaos impacting the aviation industry. British Airways check in staff and ground crew at Heathrow voted to go on strike yesterday in a dispute over pay.
The workers are backed by Unite and GMB unions, who called on British Airways to reinstate workers pay back to pre-pandemic levels. Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: "With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways. BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10% one-off bonus payment, but this doesn't cut the mustard.
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"Our members need to be reinstated the 10% they had stolen from them last year with full back pay and the 10% bonus which other colleagues have been paid. GMB members at Heathrow have suffered untold abuse as they deal with the travel chaos caused by staff shortages and IT failures.
"At the same time, they've had their pay slashed during BA's callous fire and rehire policy. What did BA think was going to happen? It's not too late to save the summer holidays - other BA workers have had their pay cuts reversed. Do the same for ground and check-in staff and this industrial action can be nipped in the bud."
Simon explained the 700 workers planning strike action work in key roles at the airport on check in and departure gates. The date of the strike action is yet to be confirmed, but Simon feared it feels like "end of summer as we know it"
He said: "Were a strike to go ahead it may well be that British Airways is forced to cancel departures but we have absolutely no certainty about that.
He added: "Aviation is such a complex industry that if you start cancelling flights here then that of course has a huge knock on effect across the globe."
Simon said he hopes a settlement could be reached and said the earliest date the strike action could go ahead is July 8. He added: " It seems a more likely date is July 22, that's when the main school holidays start for England and Wales. If they were to strike, then there are various options. Fridays are going to be popular targets for strikers as that's the busiest day at Heathrow.
"The weekend of July 23 - 24 is when many families who have paid an absolute fortune to get away would like to get away. It's impossible to tell what the union will do but generally the trend in aviation has been to strike not for long periods but for long enough to cause widespread disruptions."
Simon also shared a message to anyone with a British Airways booking. He said: "Nothing is known at the moment and if you have a British Airways booking there's nothing you can do.
"You won't be able to get a refund, your travel agent won't be able to help at this stage and British Airways will say your strike is going to go ahead as normal as far as we know."
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV and the ITV Hub
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