Strike hits all airports

BAA staff will walk out next month hitting hundreds of thousands of travellers with two 24-hour strikes and one 48-hour strike at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

The disruption will last days each side of the strikes, with airlines facing the prospect of cancelling hundreds of flights. Holidaymakers returning from Christmas ski or sunshine breaks and business travellers will be badly affected.

Unite, Britain's largest union, ordered the strikes in protest at BAA's plan to close its final salary pension scheme. The first 24-hour stoppage starts at 6am on Monday 7 January. This is followed by another on Wednesday 14 January and then the 48-hour strike, beginning at 6am on Thursday 17 January.

Seven airports across Britain will be brought to a halt including Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and the London terminals.

The move is a crushing blow for BAA after a year of mounting political pressure over problems at Heathrow.

Those going on strike include firefighters, security staff, maintenance workers and administrative staff.

The severity of the action shocked business leaders, who fear losses will run into tens of millions of pounds.

British Airways intervened immediately to call for the strikes to be called off. A spokeswoman said: "For the sake of all our customers we would urge all the parties involved to keep talking and come to a sensible conclusion."

The union refused to rule out further stoppages if the long running pensions dispute is not settled. The disruption will last for days after the strikes as planes and air crew will be out of place.

Heathrow is used by around 200,000 passengers a day and Gatwick more than 100,000. The airlines, including BA, Virgin Atlantic and BMI are planning emergency measures.

Intercity rail companies and Eurostar are likely to see cheap fares for the strike dates being sold out as business travellers seek alternative transport.

Brendan Gold, Unite's national aviation secretary, said members had voted 2-1 for strike action.

He laid the blame for the timing of the dispute on BAA. "It was chosen by BAA when it refused our request to defer its decision on the pension scheme," said Mr Gold. "Our quarrel is with BAA and Ferrovial (BAA's owners) not with airline passengers.

"So we have avoided taking industrial action during the holiday period and our members are determined that the campaign on which we are now embarking will succeed in protecting the future of the pension scheme." He added that there had been a series of "fruitless meetings" with the company "and the workforce has lost trust in them". A total of 1,946 union members voted for strike action, with 1,108 against.

In a separate dispute, Unite yesterday ordered walkouts by Virgin Atlantic cabin crew. Two 48-hour strikes will begin at 6am on 9 January, then a week later at the same time on 16 January. Virgin Atlantic said it hoped to run a "near normal" service.