Pilots will be taking action on September 9th, 10th and 27th in a move that BA has said will disrupt “tens of thousands” of passengers. The strike will be taking place after talks failed to settle a pay dispute, the union announced. The British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) said the airline has rejected its proposals to resolve the issues and had “no choice but to call this action”.

The union said 93 percent had voted in favour of the strike and there would not be anymore talks.

Balpa also urged the airline to find an agreement but warned that further strikes were possible in the future.

The strikes will cost BA an estimated £40million a day and will take place in the company’s 100th year.

Balpa also said pilots had made previous sacrifices to assist the company including cuts to salary, pension and leave.

The airline has been making profits of £2billion a year with the strike being branded “a last resort” with “enormous frustration at the way the business is now being run.”

BA’s chief executive Alex Cruz announced his “disappointment” at the strike which he also deemed as unnecessary.

He said: “The blame lies squarely at the door of the pilots’ union, Balpa. I personally believe BA pilots are the best in the world.

But I think they have been very badly served by the union.”

A BA pilot earns an average of £167,000 annually with allowances and bonuses which could see total earnings hitting £200,000 a year.

Mr Cruz also added that the airline would be contacting affected passengers within the next 36 hours but passengers could make their own re-bookings online.

BA plans to hire planes and crew from other airlines and schedule bigger aircraft in codeshare flights where two or more airlines share the same flight.

Cancellations are expected to occur because of the strike action.

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