British Airways cabin crew will call off a five-day strike due to start on Monday if their travel perks are reinstated, Unite union co-leader Tony Woodley said on Sunday.

Talks between the two sides aimed at avoiding three five-day strikes over pay and conditions broke down on Saturday evening after protesters gate-crashed the talks. Both sides had hoped to resume negotiations on Sunday but none had been arranged.

Let's stop the inconvenience to the British traveling public ... Let's get the travel back on for our people and let's finalize a deal hopefully over these next couple of days, Woodley told reporters in London.

Cabin crew have been angered by the removal of travel benefits from striking staff in a long-running dispute over BA's cost-cutting drive.

Woodley's announcement came shortly after British media reported that the union were pulling the plug on the talks and that the first wave of strikes would go ahead.

A spokeswoman for the airline had earlier said they were still willing to negotiate.

British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh said he was hopeful of a deal in the long-running dispute over the airline's cost-cutting drive but said the company had contingency plans in place to keep services running.

BA will survive and we will be stronger because we are tackling the core issues, he told the BBC earlier on Sunday. We will not allow Unite, the union, to ground BA.

Walsh said he had also been angered by the union's joint leader Derek Simpson who had sent out live updates on the Twitter microblogging site during Saturday's talks.

The airline is trying to get a deal with Unite to save 62.5 million pounds ($89.81 million) a year.

Unions are particularly angered by disciplinary action taken by BA against striking staff and the removal of travel perks.

On Friday, BA reported its biggest annual loss since privatization in 1987 due to the recession, bad weather and industrial disputes.

(Reporting by Matt Falloon and Kate Holton; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton and Louise Heavens)

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