Passengers travelling through Bournemouth Airport may face disruption as workers are set to go on strike for four days.
Around 80 Unite the Union members working at the airport will go on strike later this month and in October after a new pay offer was rejected.
Walkouts will take place on 30 September, 1 October, 16 October and 17 October, with the union stating this will cause disruption at the airport.
Workers employed across different areas of the airport, including baggage handling, check-in, flight dispatching and plane fuelling, were due to walk out over a pay dispute earlier in September, but this was suspended to allow workers to be balloted on whether to accept a new deal.
However, this offer was rejected, prompting new strike dates to be announced.
Bournemouth Airport, which put the number of strikers at around 70, said roughly 15 per cent of its 450 workforce would be striking.
“We are extremely disappointed industrial action has been threatened despite the airport having negotiated extensively and in good faith with Unite and having met all their previous demands in full,” the airport said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This included making significantly improved pay offers to staff in line with requests, which Unite recommended to their members for approval.”
The airport said it is continuing to seek an agreement with Unite without the need for industrial action.
In the meantime, Bournemouth Airport says preparations are underway on contingency plans to minimise the disruption to “allow the airport to operate as normal on these dates”.
However, it advised passengers to check with their airline nearer the time for the very latest information on their flight.
Bournemouth Airport serves over 950,000 passengers a year with flights to 34 destinations across Europe and North Africa, many of which are operated by airlines such as TUI and Ryanair.
Unite claims that flight routes to and from the airport will be “severely impacted” by any strike action due to the number of workers involved spread out across different services in the airport.
Unite regional officer Janet Wall said: "This dispute will inevitably result in major disruption to passengers, but this dispute is entirely the fault of the employer.
"Offers so far have been rejected as they don't go far enough to address years of low pay and the fact that workers are struggling financially. However, Bournemouth Airport can stop this highly disruptive strike action by coming back with a new, improved offer."
Unite members who work for the fire service at Bournemouth Airport, part of a different union bargaining agreement, will not be striking after accepting a new pay deal.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
‘Indefinite’ strike causes severe disruption at Spain’s biggest airport
London bus strike partly called off this weekend – but some routes still affected
Airline to cancel 100 flights on Wednesday as ground crew strike
Over 100 flights cancelled after strike by KLM staff
Shetland says tourist tax ‘doesn’t make sense’ for the islands
The South Hams Way: A new 100-mile walking route has opened in England
