LONDON (Bloomberg) — British Airways Plc chief executive officer Willie Walsh, who won a court ruling on Thursday to thwart a planned holiday-season strike, may have little time to force through the staff cuts he's seeking to help restore profit.

London High Court Judge Laura Cox invalidated a strike vote and prevented a 12-day walkout by the Unite union, representing 13,000 cabin crew. The dispute centered on Walsh's move to cut one attendant on each long-haul flight, and he was prepared to risk BA's first labour stoppage since 1997 rather than back down.

Walsh may not have the advantage for long if the union leadership pushes for another strike early in the new year. London-based British Airways, Europe's third-biggest airline, needs to reduce spending to survive a traffic slump that pushed it to a record £217 million ($351 million) first-half loss.

"Willie has to get concessions now from the union, otherwise he's not going to get any," said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Evolution Securities in London who recommends buying British Airways stock. "You'll only get the structural changes at the bottom of the cycle, so you have to be tough."

British Airways fell 1.9 percent to 188.5 pence in London trading on Friday. The stock has added 4.9 percent this year for a value of £2.17 billion.

The strike had been scheduled to begin on December 22 after Unite said that 92 percent of flight attendants voting backed a walkout. Cox voided the ballot because it included people who had already agreed to leave the airline.

Unite said on Friday it will hold a fresh vote early in the new year. The union has written to Tony McCarthy, BA's head of human resources, to inform him about the ballot and request data on crew who will be leaving between now and the end of April so as to ensure that the poll is entirely legal. The union must give at least a week's notice of any strike.

"They shouldn't rejoice in this," Derek Simpson, the union's joint general secretary, told reporters outside court following the ruling yesterday. "They should understand that they've still got a massive problem."

British Airways and labour representatives, already in talks on resolving the dispute, hadn't yet scheduled a new round of discussions following the court judgment, said Pauline Doyle, a Unite spokeswoman.