Unite union has confirmed its cabin crew members will stage five days of strikes against British Airways (BA) from Monday 24 May.
The announcement follows a ruling in the Court of Appeal which overturned an injunction granted earlier in the week, forcing Unite to cancel its cabin crew strikes.
Strikes will also be held for five days from 30 May and 5 June, if a settlement is not reached.
Joint general secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley said: “British Airways management now has a chance over the next three days to address our outstanding concerns and seize the possibility for industrial peace. We hope it has the wisdom to do so. Failing that, cabin crew will once more be taking industrial action with our full support.”
The confirmation of the strike dates comes as BA reported its biggest annual loss due to lower passenger numbers, higher costs and the impact of strikes.
The airline lost £531m in the 12 months to March – its biggest loss since it was privatised in 1987.
This adds to the £401m it lost in the 2008-09 financial year, but is less than the £600m loss many analysts had feared, the BBC reported.
Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, said: “Returning the business to profitability requires permanent change across the company, and it’s disappointing that our cabin crew union fails to recognise that.
“Structural change has been achieved in many parts of the business and our engineers and pilots have voted for permanent change.”
It is thought cabin crew strikes in March cost the airline £43m, while disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland could cost BA an extra £100m.
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