A planned BA cabin crew strike has been called off after the airline won a last-minute High Court injunction.
Members of the Unite union were due to walk out from May 18-22 inclusive, then from May 24-28, May 30-June 3 and June 5-9, the last strike ending just days before the start of the football World Cup in South Africa.
But Mr Justice McCombe granted an injunction against the industrial action after BA argued that Unite had not "properly complied" with the requirement to "send everyone eligible to vote details of the exact breakdown of the ballot result" and that, as a result, the strike action was "unlawful".
While expressing sympathy for the union and its members, the judge said: "I am unable to say it is sufficiently clear that the union took the steps required by law at the time they were required."
A BA spokesman said: "We are delighted for our customers that Unite's plans for extreme and unjustified strike action cannot go ahead. We are sorry the court judgment cannot undo the disruption already suffered by some customers who were due to travel during the early days of the union's industrial action.
"As Unite knew, we had to announce last Thursday the rearrangement of our Heathrow schedule to give customers as much notice as possible about changes to their travel plans necessitated by the strike call. Ash disruption permitting, we will aim to restore a full flying programme at Heathrow by the weekend. We will also offer a full programme at Gatwick and London City, as planned."
Unite's national officer Steve Turner said: "It's an affront to democracy and our members and we will be fighting back tomorrow."
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