Cabin crew at British Airways have voted in favour of further industrial action in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

Employees voted eight-to-one in favour of new strikes, with disruption now possible over the Easter break.

The ballot was a rerun of an invalid vote held before Christmas.

The row began about cost-cutting but now centres on travel concessions taken from striking staff and disciplinary action against Unite union members.

The dispute started in November 2009, when BA reduced the number of cabin crew on some long-haul flights from 15 to 14, and introduced a two-year pay freeze from 2010.

This led to a series of strikes in the spring and summer of last year.

Staff have presently walked out for a total of 22 days in the present dispute.

Puerto Rico

Also today, British Airways has launched flights to Puerto Rico for the first time, following the inauguration of its first direct service to Buenos Aires on Sunday.

The new services came as a host of new routes and increased frequencies marked the start of summer flying schedules.

BA now flies daily from Heathrow to Buenos Aires – a city it previously served via Sao Paulo – with the Brazilian city also enjoying its own daily service.