Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent

BA’s pilots could refuse to fly from August 15Alamy

British Airways passengers are facing travel chaos at the height of the summer holidays after a legal bid to halt a hugely damaging pilots’ strike was rejected.

The Court of Appeal today threw out BA’s application for an injunction intended to block a proposed walkout.

Three senior judges ruled that the strike by members of British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) could go ahead after confirming that its ballot for action was legally sound.

It means that the walkout by as many as 4,000 BA pilots could go ahead in a little over two weeks.

Balpa said that it would not announce the date of any strike today although it only has to give a fortnight’s formal notice of industrial action. Pilots could refuse to fly…