British Airways will fly about 60 per cent of its customers, even if cabin crew go ahead with their planned strike this weekend.

All flights to and from London City airport and all long haul services to and from Gatwick will continue to operate normally throughout any strike.

BA said that it has also rescheduled some services for strikes being arranged for beyond the weekend.

Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the planned strike.

Unite insists that it is for BA to make the next move by re-instating the settlement offer that the airline withdrew on Friday.

BA pulled its offer after the airline said it was conditional on strike action being averted.

The offer had included commitments on working hours and annual pay rises in exchange for the cabin crew workers agreeing to the BA's planned $95 million of cost cuts.

"Put the offer back on the table and we will look sensibly at suspending the strike," Mr Woodley said in a BBC interview.

"At the moment BA don't want to consult. They want war," he said.

The dispute is over reduced staffing levels and pay at the airline, with the first strike scheduled to start on 20 March.

Lord Adonis, transport secretary, called on "the union to lift the threat of a strike and get back to the negotiating table saying "passengers should not be held to ransom" by the Unite union.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, condemned what he said were Government attacks on union members.

“It is rather unfortunate that the government of all shapes and sizes always want to kick the unions and kick the employees when in actual fact it's my members who've been kicked here,” he said.

Mr Woodley was particularly critical of Lord Adonis, saying: "For an unelected person who hasn't got a clue about this dispute, it would have been wiser for him to have kept his counsel.