BA pilots' strike threat to Easter holiday flights

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Heathrow and Gatwick would be seriously disrupted and BA's move to the new Terminal 5 next month could be affected.

The dispute is over plans to create an airline with separate pilots who will fly between New York and Paris or Brussels.

The British Airline Pilots Association fears this will lead to a lowering of working conditions which will then spread to the main airline.

Balpa will declare the result of its ballot among nearly 3,000 pilots next Wednesday, 20 February. It will announce its strike plans the next day.

By law, the union must then give seven days' notice of any action, meaning the first stoppages could begin on Friday, 29 February.

A senior Balpa source said today: "We have got the vote for strike action. All the indications from our representatives is that our members are very worried about the future and are supporting the action."

Jim McAuslan, Balpa's general secretary, said the "real reason" BA wants to pick a fight with its pilots is that it wants to "outsource" flying duties to less highly trained and lower paid pilots.

Mr McAuslan said: "Then the company will use this poorer paid pilot force as a Trojan Horse to beat down the pay and conditions of its current pilot employees." He said the "Trojan Horse" is BA's planned OpenSkies subsidiary which will fly passengers from European capitals to the US.

A BA spokesman described Balpa's fears as "unfounded" and said: "We have guaranteed to BA pilots that the creation of OpenSkies will not in any way affect their current terms and conditions. It is simply not true that the new subsidiary will be used to beat down BA pilots' pay and conditions or threaten their jobs."

Passengers using Gatwick's North Terminal will be allowed more than one piece of hand luggage from today, subject to the airline's permission. All airports must ease the restriction by 31 May.