The High Court in London has granted an injunction, which prevents British Airways (BA) staff from embarking on their scrooge-like plan to strike for 12-days over Christmas.

Mrs Justice Cox ruled that union leaders had breached rules in organizing a ballot for the strike, as it included members who had already received redundancies.

Unite, which represents 13,500 cabin staff, described the judgment as a “disgraceful day for democracy”.

The union has threatened to re-ballot its members to approve more industrial action, however because of the time needed to organise another vote, any future strike will be pushed back until 2010.

BA said it was "delighted" that the threat of a strike over the Christmas and New Year period had been lifted by the court.

"It is a decision that will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands of families in the UK and around the world," said the airline, which faced losing up to £30m a day if the strike had gone ahead.

"There was never any need for a strike and we hope that Unite will take this opportunity to reflect before deciding its next steps.

“We believe the public would want that too. In recent days, we believe Unite has formed a better understanding of our position and of the ways in which we could move forward."

“It has also become very clear that our customers do not believe that old-style trade union militancy is relevant to our efforts to move British Airways back toward profitability.

“Financial success is essential to build the kind of business our customers want and provide long-term opportunities for our staff.”

The decision to block the strike has come as a huge relief for up to 1 million BA passengers who faced a grim Christmas had the strike gone ahead.