The pressure on Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, is set to intensify as he announces a further profit warning today and faces a pilots’ strike within ten days that could ground the airline.

The BA boss is expected to give his second profit warning of the year today as rising fuel costs erode the airline’s financial prospects.

BA then faces further difficulties next week as it meets Balpa, the pilots’ union, in the High Court in an attempt to block industrial action.

The five-day hearing will start on Monday and if BA loses, Balpa could call a strike immediately. This would plunge BA into chaos just as tens of thousands of passengers start their May bank holiday getaway.

Mr Walsh has faced a difficult year already with the botched opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 damaging BA’s reputation.

The Balpa dispute concerns BA’s proposed new carrier, Open Skies, which will fly from continental Europe to the United States. The pilots are concerned that the crew will not be unionised and will be paid less.

Mr Walsh will announce the airline’s results for 2007-08 today and most analysts expect a strong performance with profits of about £870 million.

The results are expected to come close to reaching the 10 per cent profit margin Mr Walsh promised last year. That would trigger full bonuses for staff, including £700,000 for Mr Walsh.

The airline is also expected to pay its first dividend in seven years. However, the outlook for 2008-09 is troubling with oil prices remaining high.

BA has already cut its profit margin forecast for the coming year from 10 per cent to 7 per cent and analysts expect a further cut, reducing profits by hundreds of millions of pounds.

Aer Lingus, the Irish carrier that Mr Walsh led until he joined BA, also announced a profit warning yesterday.

BA said it would address the pilots’ strike after the High Court ruling.

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