More than a million airline passengers face cancelled flights in the new year after a union announced strikes that could force seven airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, to close.

Additional cabin crew strikes on Virgin Atlantic mean that passengers face more than a week of disruption from January 7 to 17.

More than 5,000 workers, including most security search staff and hundreds of firefighters, essential to keeping the airport open, are due to walk out on January 7. The strikes were called in protest at the decision by BAA, the Spanish-owned airport operator, to close its final-salary pension scheme to new employees.

BAA, which also owns Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton airports, handles almost two thirds of all take-offs and landings in Britain.

Unite, which represents firefighters, maintenance and security staff and clerical workers at the airports, said that all seven would have to close because BAA would not have enough firefighters to meet minimum safety standards.

More than 300,000 passengers and 3,000 flights could be affected on each of the strike days. The disruption would continue for a day or two after each stoppage because aircraft and crew would be out of position.

While most families will have returned from Christmas holidays before January 7, the strikes would affect tens of thousands people heading on ski trips and in search of sunshine in the Canaries, Florida and other popular winter destinations.

Airlines are likely to try to reschedule some services to operate from non-BAA airports, such as Luton, Birmingham and Manchester, but they would only be able to cope with a fraction of the flights handled by BAA.

British Airways was continuing to sell tickets for the strike days last night and sales staff were not informing passengers that their flights could be disrupted or cancelled. When asked if there could be a strike, one booking clerk said: “Oh yes, there is due to be one but the majority of the time it doesn’t happen.”

A BA spokesman said: “We are selling tickets because it’s not a done deal. We are looking at what contingency plans we can put in place but we are not discussing that at this stage.”

Virgin Atlantic said that it was cancelling 24 flights during the proposed strikes, although Unite claimed that more services would be disrupted.

BAA, which has been condemned this year for security delays and poor management, is not expecting to hold talks with Unite until after Christmas. There were no signs yesterday that either side was willing to compromise.

An airline source said: “We have been privately briefed by BAA to expect the complete closure of its airports. They have indicated that they will let a strike happen.”

Brendan Gold, Unite’s national officer, said: “I am astonished at the way BAA has refused to tackle this issue . . . It is clear that our members’ pension scheme is financially sound and should be left alone.

“After a series of fruitless meetings with the company, our members have been left with no option.”

Mr Gold said that workers had lost trust in BAA and feared that not allowing new employees to join the final-salary scheme after December 1 was the first step in ending the scheme.

Unite claimed that Rafael del Pino, Ferrovial’s chairman, had failed to respond to a personal letter appealing to him to step in to resolve the dispute.

Heathrow’s ageing infrastructure and chaotic passenger screening system were criticised over the summer by many business leaders and politicians, including Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, who said that the airport “shamed” the capital.

Ferrovial has suffered an exodus of top executives, including Heathrow’s chief executive and operations director, since it bought BAA for £10.1 billion last year.

BAA is the subject of a Competition Commission investigation into whether the company’s ownership of seven airports in Britain restricts competition.

A BAA spokesman said: “We continue to believe that industrial action is unnecessary, as none of our existing employees will be affected.” The spokesman said that there were “important concerns” that would be addressed.

Mr Gold said that BAA had to reverse its decision to close the scheme before discussions could begin.

January 7
5,000 workers due to strike for 24 hours from 6am

January 9-10
Virgin Atlantic 48-hour cabin crew strike

January 14
24-hour BAA strike from 6am

January 16-17
Virgin Atlantic 48-hour cabin crew strike

January 17
48-hour BAA strike from 6am

Striking numbers

7 airports facing four days of strikes
300,000 passengers a day could be affected
3,000 flights a day could be cancelled
£544m BAA’s profit in nine months to September 30

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