British Airways can cut cabin crew jobs, rules High Court

British Airways today won a major legal victory over its plans to cut cabin crew on some flights.

Union bosses representing 12,000 crew lost their High Court challenge aimed at stopping the UK's largest carrier from going ahead with the cutbacks.

The ruling strengthens BA's hand in the long-running dispute with the Unite union.

Unite had argued the cost-cutting would change crew contracts and worse working conditions.

But BA countered successfully that it is entitled to unilaterally reduce cabin crew complements on board its Worldwide and Eurofleet flights as these are not in the terms of individual cabin crew members' contracts.

Union sources said they were "very disappointed" with the High Court ruling.

The result of a strike ballot among cabin crew will be declared on Monday and is expected to endorse industrial action. A meeting of crew will take place next Thursday and strike dates could be announced.

BA says it must make the cuts to survive in a competitive market and to deal with the effects of the recession which has seen a drop in air travel and passengers opting for cheaper tickets.

Had the carrier lost the case it would have been forced to pay huge compensation to cabin crew already affected by the changes, said Unite.

BA is training 500 extra staff to work alongside existing cabin crew not supporting the strike action if walkouts go ahead.