Union officials at British Airways will take weeks to organise a new strike vote, threatening the carrier and its passengers with more uncertainty.

Analysts fear British Airways could still face huge losses as customers worry over the risk of a strike early next year.

But insiders in the Unite union, furious after losing a High Court case over their planned strike, privately admit they were outsmarted by BA chief executive Willie Walsh, losing the legal fight and the battle for public opinion.

The High Court ruled last week that Unite’s first strike ballot was illegal because the union had included members who had left or were about to leave BA. Now Unite officials, keen to avoid another humiliating legal defeat, are being ultra-cautious, even though they promised to ‘move swiftly’ to a strike ballot.

They have written to the company to get the names of all employees eligible to vote. And they are ensuring that a vote gets to all employees, some of whom are based abroad. ‘That process will take at least three weeks,’ said one union official.