BRITISH Airways pilots are to hold an all out strike from July 16th unless the company settles a pay dispute, the airline was warned last night.
The British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa) said it was giving BA time to come up with a new offer before taking industrial action which it believed would ground most flights. The union said a strike would cost BA £40 million a day.
The general secretary, Mr Chris Darke, said he had been inundated by calls from pilots and flight engineers all day expressing "mounting anger and frustration" with the company.
The union announced on Wednesday that 90 per cent of its 3,000 BA members who work as pilots and flight engineers had voted for a strike and had been expecting fresh negotiations with BA before setting a date.
But Mr Darke said he was "puzzled and dismayed" by BA's refusal to make a new offer which had forced the union to name a strike date. "Under law we only have to give seven days notice of a strike but we are giving BA 11 days because we want to meet with the company to get this dispute settled," said Mr Darke.
The company is due to hold its annual meeting on July 16th. Balpa said it had recruited extra members among BA employees since announcing its ballot.
BA earlier described its offer as "fair and reasonable" and accused the union of not making its members fully aware of what had been tabled.
Mr Darke said the union was "deeply sorry" for threatening the strike and the disruption it would cause for hundreds of thousands of travellers.