More than a third of British Airways¹ flights at the UK's major airports have so far been cancelled on the third day of strike action by cabin crew.

英国航空公司航班服务人员举行罢工的第三天，英国各大机场超过三分之一的航班被迫取消。

According to BA's website, 238 of the 691 flights due to take off or land at 11 major UK airports before 1600 GMT were cancelled.

Unite said the impact was "severe" and questioned the number of passengers on board the flights still operating.

A second round of strikes - a four-day stoppage - is due to begin on Saturday.

BA's main hub at Heathrow suffered the biggest disruption（破坏，分裂） , with 179 of the 405 flights before 1600 GMT marked as cancelled on BA's online schedules.

At Gatwick, BA's contingency² plans（应急计划） , which include using pilots as cabin crew（航班空服人员） and leasing ready-crewed aircraft, meant four out of five flights before 1600 GMT went ahead.

For Glasgow the figure was 9 cancellations out of 37 flights, while at Manchester there were 14 cancellations out of 38 in total on BA's online schedule.

Speaking to striking cabin crew at a rally near Heathrow, Unite's joint³ leader Tony Woodley said the dispute was costing the airline "an arm and a leg（昂贵的代价） ".

He said a fresh offer recently put forward by British Airways had been rejected as "not good enough" for cabin crew. But he said the union was still willing to negotiate and urged BA to "come back" to the negotiating table.

Mr Woodley confirmed that he had been talking to Gordon Brown about the strike and was grateful for his attempts to encourage the two sides to reach a negotiated settlement.

According to his spokesperson, the Prime Minister was keeping "very closely in touch" with the situation and was very conscious of the impact the dispute was having on passengers.