British Airways wins court order to block crew strike

London :  British Airways Plc won a court order invalidating a strike ballot by its cabin crew, preventing a 12-day walkout over the Christmas holiday.

London judge Laura Cox's ruling in favour of the airline means the Unite union must give at least a week's notice should it win another mandate, making a strike this year unlikely.

The walkout by 13,000 cabin crew at Europe's third-largest airline was set to start December 22, after months of talks with Unite about staffing levels failed to yield an agreement. Unite announced the stoppage December 14 after saying that it received the backing of 92 per cent of flight attendants in a strike ballot.

Unite polled its members after British Airways on November 16 introduced new working practices without union consent. The carrier is seeking to trim costs after a slump in air travel pushed it to a £217 million (Dh1.3 billion) loss in the six months ended September 30.

The carrier and union are in separate talks to head off a strike that would disrupt travel for more than 1 million people.

Earlier yesterday, the UAE's two long-haul airlines, Etihad and Emirates, said their operations would not have been impacted by a strike at British Airways during the busy Christmas season anyway and they always planned to stick to their normal flight schedules.