British Airways expects to carry more than 70% of its customers, or over 60,000 passengers a day, during five days of strike action due to start next week.
The Unite trade union announced earlier this week that cabin crew would stage a further 20 days of strikes in May and June, threatening renewed misery for travellers already hit by walkouts and disruption caused by volcanic ash.
BA, which last month sealed its long-awaited merger with Spain's Iberia, said it had leased eight aircraft with pilots and crew provided by five different airlines to supplement those of its own staff who choose to work.
‘We're confident that many crew will ignore Unite's pointless strike call and support the efforts of the airline to keep customers flying,’ BA's Chief Executive Willie Walsh said.
‘Due to the numbers of cabin crew who are telling us they want to work normally ... the schedule will be slightly larger than we had originally anticipated,’ Walsh added.
Unite's general secretary Tony Woodley said BA should worry about ‘the real cost of this strike to the company’ in terms of its reputation, rather than how many planes it will fly next week, and urged BA to ‘talk to get this settled’.
The strikes are part of a long-running disagreement over pay and conditions that stems from BA's plans to save £62.5 m a year to counter falling demand, volatile fuel prices and greater competition.
The dispute has grown increasingly bitter with some analysts saying Walsh's firm stance has effectively broken the industrial action, or at least put unions on the back foot.
‘There is only one winner of this spat - Willie Walsh. He cannot and never will give in,’ said David Buik, senior strategist at BGC Partners.
‘With Iberia waiting in the wings and the possibility of another alliance, perhaps with American Airlines, disenchanted employees may be superfluous to requirements.’
Shares in BA, which have risen 10% in 2010, closed 1.7% up at 208.5 pence sterling today, valuing the business at around £2.3bn pounds.
Unite has also accused Walsh of trying to break the union, which has 97% of BA cabin crew as members.
BA says it operated 79% of long-haul and 58% of short-haul flights during strikes in March.
But the seven days of walkouts that month cost the airline £45m while last month's disruption as a result of a volcanic eruption in Iceland cost it a further £20m a day in revenue.
The latest bout of industrial action will see the first strikes begin on 18 May and run until 22 May.
Further walkouts are planned on 24-28 May, 30 May - 3 June and 5-9 June.
Unite has said it will hold a further ballot of BA cabin crew for industrial action over issues arising from the company's conduct during the dispute.
BA said all flights at Gatwick and London City airports would operate as normal while at Heathrow it will operate some 60% of longhaul and 50% of shorthaul flights.
