AIRLINE passengers leaving from eight airports face the prospect of Christmas flights without food or drink as 700 catering staff have begun balloting on industrial action.

The Unite members, employed by contractor dnata, supply aircraft at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow, London City, Stansted, Bristol and Birmingham airports.

Unite accused the United Arab Emirates-based company of attempting to alter the workers’ terms and conditions without consultation.

The changes affect rostering, variable working, annualised hours, seasonal working, absence management and annual leave allocations.

Airlines affected include easyJet, Ryanair, TUI, British Airways, Emirates, American Airlines and Air India, the union said.

Unite national officer for aviation Balvinder Bir said: “Strikes would have a serious impact on major airlines at eight UK airports and will be entirely the fault of dnata.

“There is still time for industrial action to be avoided, but that will require dnata entering into meaningful negotiations with Unite about the changes it is putting forward.”

A dnata catering and retail spokesperson said: “Despite our continuous efforts to reach a fair solution, Unite has rejected our reasonable proposals to enhance wages and conditions and initiated a ballot for industrial action.”

The ballot closes on December 5.