British Airways faces a further 14-day strike by cabin crew starting just as schools in England break up for the summer holidays.
The latest walk out by member of the Unite union working for the airline’s mixed fleet is set to run between July 19 and August 1.
The action is in addition to a current 16-day strike which is due to end on July 16.
The union is also starting legal action against the government’s decision to give the go-ahead for BA to wet lease nine Qatar Airways’ Airbus aircraft to cover striking cabin crew strike.
The union argues that the lease of aircraft and cabin crew from BA’s Gulf partner breaches European regulations.
Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said the announcement of a further escalation of the long-running strike “underlines the determination of our members in their fight for better pay and against British Airways’ bullying behaviour”.
He added: “We are seeing strong support for the ongoing strike action. The time and money British Airways is spending on wet leasing aircraft and bullying striking cabin crew are resources which could easily settle this dispute.
A BA spokesman said: “As during Unite’s previous industrial action, we will ensure all our customers reach their destinations.
“In the current strike period, we are operating 99.5% of our normal schedule.
“Instead of calling further completely unnecessary strikes, Unite should allow its members a vote on the pay deal we reached two months ago.
“It seems extraordinary that a trade union should ask its members to give up their pay and benefits for virtually the whole of July, trying to target the holidays of hard-working families, rather than give those members a chance to settle the central issue of the dispute.”
Unite represents one of the airline’s five cabin crew fleets and BA stressed that the “vast majority” of services will be unaffected.
BA parent company International Airlines Group reported a 3.9% increase in traffic, based on revenue passenger kilometres, in June over the same month last year, with premium numbers up by 6.8%.
Actual passengers carried rose by 3.2% to 9.7 million across the group, which also includes Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, with a combined load factor up by 0.3 percentage points to 84.3%.
More:
BA brings in Qatar Airways aircraft for short-haul strike cover