BAA, Britain’s biggest airport operator, is facing potential strike action during the busy Christmas period, in protest against its decision to close its final-salary pension scheme to new employees.

Unite, the union, said that the shop stewards committee, representing thousands of security, maintenance, administrative and clerical staff, have formally called for the vote.

The ballot will be held at the end of November or beginning of December. If union members vote yes, Unite will have a 28-day window within which it can organise a strike.

The decision comes the day after Ferrovial, the Spanish construction group that bought BAA last year, said its nine months earnings received a significant boost from the acquisition.

Brendan Gold, Unite national secretary for civil air transport said: “On the day it is reported that BAA has made a big contribution to the profits of its Spanish parent Ferrovial our members are saying spend some of that money here on pensions or face the consequences.”

The strike call has followed consultations across the seven airports.

Gold said there are fears amongst employees that they cannot trust BAA and “the whole future of the final salary scheme was now in jeopardy,” not just for new recruits.

He said that the present pension’s deficit of £29 million was relatively modest.

“BAA is profitable. Ferrovial is profitable. They count their money in billions of pounds. They can afford to pay the £29 million if they want to. They can afford to keep the pension scheme open,” he said.

For the nine months to September, Ferrovial said net profit jumped 142.6 per cent from a year earlier to €808.8 million ($55 million).

BAA had previously said that it was protecting itself and its pensioners from stock market volatility and was trying to bring greater stability. It plans to introduce the change to its pension scheme from 1 December.

Final-salary schemes are increasingly rare in the private sector, although the majority of public sector employers have retained the system. Most large companies have closed the schemes to new members, or shut them all together, in the face of widening deficits.

Ferrovial borrowed heavily last year to secure BAA in a £10.3 billion deal.

Ferrovial shares dropped 3.02 per cent to €57.75

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