Hundreds of travellers to and from Bahrain and the Gulf face massive disruption as British Airways cabin crew stage a new series of strikes from next week.

Their union, Unite, has called 20 days of stoppage in a series of strikes between next Tuesday and June 9 - which will include half-term at some schools.

The action follows similar BA strikes which hit passengers in March.

More misery followed last month when a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland closed all British airports for several days, stranding outgoing and incoming Bahrain and Gulf passengers.

The new strikes will be from Tuesday to May 22, May 24 to 28, May 30 to June 3 and June 5 to 9.

BA yesterday suspended all ticket sales on flights from next Tuesday to June 9, advising passengers to check its website for updates.

The airline operates two flights a day, one incoming and one outgoing, between Bahrain and Heathrow, London, each day

'British Airways is saddened but not surprised that Unite has announced further plans for extensive disruption for potentially hundreds of thousands of our customers over a busy period that includes the May half-term holidays,' a Dubai-based spokeswoman told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN).

'We are confident that many crew will again ignore Unite's pointless strike call and support the efforts of the rest of the airline to keep our customers flying.

'Due to the excellent levels of support we have received from cabin crew based at Gatwick, all flights to and from Gatwick will continue to operate as normal.

'Flights at London City will also be unaffected.

'At Heathrow we plan to operate a substantial part of our long-haul schedule and there will be a number of daily flights to every destination across our short-haul network.

'We are speaking to a number of carriers about leasing extra aircraft to support our short-haul schedule and also obtaining thousands of seats from other airlines to help our customers rebook, if their original flight is cancelled.

'We will give more details four or five days before the strike is due to begin, when we will announce the exact details of our revised Heathrow schedule.'

She said the union's decision for further strike action 'has no semblance of justification'.

Disregard

'Unite's officials continue to operate in their own world, showing callous disregard for our customers and their own members in all parts of our airline,' she said.

'We have made a very fair offer, which meets the concerns the union raised during 14 months of negotiations and also ensures that our crew remain the best rewarded in the UK airline industry.

'That offer remains available.'

The BA website yesterday warned that flights to and from London Heathrow between next Tuesday and June 9 had been temporarily closed for sale, but would be reopened upon confirmation of the flight schedule.

Passengers due to fly with BA on the strike dates have been advised to check the website.

The airline has also announced that in the event of cancellations due to strike action, affected customers will have the option to: Rebook onto another British Airways flight to the same destination within 355 days of the original date of travel; rebook onto another British Airways flight to/from the nearest alternative airport; rebook on an agreed alternative airline; or cancel the booking and get a refund.

All rebooking options will be subject to availability.-TradeArabia News Service