**A strike by British Airways cabin crew will go ahead after talks between the airline and the Unite union collapsed.**The first three-day strike begins on Saturday, with a second scheduled for 27 March.
“BA does not want to negotiate and ultimately wants to go to war with this union,” Unite’s joint general secretary Tony Woodley said.
The airline’s chief executive Willie Walsh said the strike was “deeply regrettable”.
“Tens of thousands of BA people stand ready to serve our passengers and BA will be flying and will continue to fly through these periods of industrial action,” Mr Walsh said.
He added he remained available for talks on reaching a “sensible” agreement, but said that BA must cut costs.
An offer they had offered the union, which had not been accepted, would be “formally withdrawn once industrial action commences”, Mr Walsh said.
Separately, railway signal workers have voted in favour of strikes in a row over jobs and safety.
Cancelled flights
BA has announced contingency plans that will allow it to fly 65% of its customers during this weekend’s industrial action.
A total of 1,100 flights out of the 1,950 scheduled to operate during the first three strike dates will be cancelled.
But all long-haul flights and more than half of short-haul flights from Gatwick are expected to operate as normal.
At Heathrow, more than 60% of long-haul flights will operate, though only 30% of short-haul flights are expected to operate with the help of aircraft leased from eight rival airlines.
Pay demand
The airline and the union held talks late into the night on Thursday and resumed discussion on Friday.
Previously Mr Woodley called on BA to put an earlier deal to end the strikes “back on the table” - a move he said would allow him to call off the strike.
That settlement offer had included commitments on working hours and annual pay rises in exchange for the cabin crew workers agreeing to the BA’s planned £62.5m of cost cuts.