MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

It’s a very merry Christmas for British Airways travellers

The twelve day BA cabin crew walkout was aborted by a magistrate’s ruling.

One million air travellers have breathed a sigh of relief after a British judge ruled that a planned 12-day Christmas strike by British Airways cabin crew could not go ahead. The airline won its legal challenge after claiming that Unite had balloted hundreds of members who had subsequently left the company.

The High Court ruling means the walkout by more than 12,000 cabin crew, due to start next Tuesday and run until January 2, causing huge damage to BA and shattering the travel plans of one million passengers, will not go ahead.

BA said it was “delighted” for its customers that the strike threat was lifted, but Unite attacked the ruling as a “disgraceful day for democracy”.

Mrs Justice Cox, sitting in London, refused Unite permission to appeal after ruling that the balance of convenience lay “firmly” with granting the injunction.

During the proceedings, Bruce Carr QC, for BA, told the judge the balloting process contained “serious and substantial irregularities”. The strike would deprive “literally millions of people a happy Christmas”, he said.

BA said: “We are delighted for our customers that the threat of a Christmas strike has been lifted by the court. It is a decision that will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands of families in the UK and around the world.

”There was never any need for a strike and we hope that Unite will take this opportunity to reflect before deciding its next steps. We believe the public would want that too.“

But Unite's joint leader Derek Simpson announced outside the court that cabin crew will be re-balloted, although he said he could understand the ”euphoria“ of passengers who would have faced travel misery.

He attacked BA's ”macho“ management style in imposing changes to working conditions which sparked the ballot. ”We have been trying to reach a negotiated settlement and get BA to withdraw the terms and conditions. The only good thing to come from this is that people will get away for Christmas. It was never our intention to disrupt passengers”, he said.