British Airways has said that trade union officials have called off the first 24 hours of a planned three-day strike by the airline's cabin crew.

BA's stewards and stewardesses were set to stage a strike from January 29-31 in protest over sick leave, pay and staffing conditions.

However, officials from the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) have advised the airline that the planned stoppage will now take place on January 30 and 31, BA said in a company statement.

The TGWU confirmed the news in a separate statement later Wednesday, saying that the strike has been postponed by 24 hours "as a goodwill gesture to allow more time for further negotiations".

But the union added: "If the dispute is not resolved, the strike will go ahead on Tuesday and Wednesday next week."

The developments came after five hours of talks late on Tuesday between BA chief executive Willie Walsh and senior TGWU members.

British Airways meanwhile made a fresh appeal for the trade union to call off the industrial action.

"BA said today that the Transport and General Workers' Union should act immediately to call off completely its threat to disrupt the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of customers following the union's decision to cancel the first day of a planned three-day cabin crew strike," the statement read.

Walsh added that "enough progress had been made in negotiations for the whole strike threat to be removed".

The TGWU has previously warned that there will be two more three-day work stoppages in February if the dispute remained unresolved.

Provided by AFP.