BA crew to walk out in March

"This will probably cost BA something in the region of 20 million pounds a day but maybe less since they have some contingency plans in place," said Furlong.

BA has trained staff from other areas of the company to fill-in as cabin crew during the strike and has said it will hire 23 fully-crewed planes from charter companies to help run flights from Heathrow.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged BA and Unite to resume talks to avoid a strike. "I hope they will do so (resume talks) but I remind them of the danger and risk to the British economy of disruptive strikes going ahead," Brown told a news conference on Friday.

BA's Walsh has said the airline must move away from its old, inefficient ways if long-term survival is to be ensured, and that changes at the airline, which analysts believe is losing around 1.5 million pounds a day, are essential to help repair its precarious finances.

"This strike is getting no sympathy from customers and is eroding loyalty for BA's brand and driving passengers to rivals at a time when the airline is facing record annual losses," said Bob Atkinson, a manager at travelsupermarket.com.

Gavin Halliday, BA's European head, said the strike threat had not hit bookings too badly and that the impact on earnings was likely "not disastrous."

The union's 13,000 cabin crew members have twice voted for industrial action as part of a dispute over job losses and changes to working practices, but a 12-day Christmas strike was halted following a legal challenge from BA.

(Editing by Matt Scuffham and Rupert Winchester)