Battle resumed

IT seems that, for passengers, it was a short-term reprieve. The legal ruling which banned British Airways' cabin crew from taking strike action has allowed the airline to fly as normal this week. But now, following its overturning by the Court of Appeal, the Unite union is free to go ahead with 15 days of strikes beginning on Monday.

For all the frustration that Willie Walsh will feel at his latest

defeat, however, BA's combative chief executive must know that this stand-off will be resolved not by endless bouts of legal action but by facing down the union's outlandish demands. Yet this is a battle in which Mr Walsh is holding an increasingly impressive hand of cards.

In spite of all the problems besetting the airline industry, from the recession to clouds of volcanic ash and industrial unrest, BA's position is looking better than for some time. Its losses are continuing, but its dominance on long-haul routes out of Heathrow will grow stronger still thanks to a forthcoming merger with Spain's Iberia and alliance with American Airlines, while it is sitting on cash reserves of nearly 1.5bn.

Put simply, BA can afford to ride out any strike. And its resolve will be stiffened further by the fact that, during the last strike action, considerably more cabin crew were reporting for duty by the end of the strike than at its beginning.

In spite of levels of pay and conditions considerably better than those of cabin crew on rival airlines, Unite is clearly determined to inconvenience as many passengers as possible in its attempt to put one

over on BA. In the end, however, there can only be one winner.