March 30 (Bloomberg) -- British Airways Plc’s 12,000 flight attendants will end seven days of strikes over pay and staffing levels at midnight, boosting the chances of a return to negotiations that broke down on March 19.

BA Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh and Unite union leader Tony Woodley have said repeatedly this month that they’re open to talks. A resumption during the walkout was “always unlikely,” said Liz Chinchen, a spokeswoman for the Trades Union Congress, which has been acting as an arbiter. “But the focus once the strike is over will be to try again,” she said.

London-based British Airways yesterday stuck to its outlook for the fiscal year that ends tomorrow. A four-day shutdown that began March 27 cost about 11 million pounds ($16 million) over the weekend, following losses of 21 million pounds from a three- day walkout earlier this month.

“Ultimately, this can only be resolved through negotiations so once the strike is over I’d expect them to talk again,” said Gert Zonneveld, an analyst at Panmure Gordon in London with a “hold” recommendation on the stock. “It seems that the impact on BA may not be as severe as expected, though whether that changes the power balance in favor of management isn’t clear.”

British Airways fell 0.2 percent yesterday to 251 pence in London trading. The stock has gained 19 percent since Feb. 22, when Unite announced that flight attendants had voted to strike, suggesting investors may be dismissing losses from the walkout as a one-time cost.

Under U.K. labor laws, Unite’s strike mandate would allow the action to resume no later than April 15, spokeswoman Pauline Doyle said yesterday.

Talks Window

The union must also give seven days’ notice of a stoppage, so a walkout would need to be called by April 8, giving a window of more than a week in which negotiations could take place. The mandate could be extended with BA’s approval, something that’s usually done when talks are making progress.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has been in touch with British Airways and Unite in recent days, though the sides are no closer to returning to talks, the congress, Britain’s umbrella group for unions, said yesterday.

In the first two days of the current walkout, British Airways operated 83 percent of its long-haul schedule and 67 percent of European flights, the airline said in a statement yesterday. More than 118,000 passengers were transported, an increase of 37 percent compared with last weekend.

Disruption has been focused on London’s Heathrow airport, with the capital’s Gatwick and City airports unaffected.

Cancellations

A greater proportion of flights were affected today, the first weekday of BA’s new summer schedule, according to Unite, which said 47 percent of the revised timetable was canceled. The airline has used 11 rented planes and volunteers from other parts of the company to help maintain flights and 50 percent of cabin crew due to work at the weekend went on strike, it said.

Unite predicts that British Airways’ loss from the walkout will total 100 million pounds.

The union says any settlement must include the restoration of travel perks that Walsh has stripped from striking employees, a move that may make work journeys unviable for 1,500 flight attendants employed in the U.K. but resident abroad. The CEO has also withdrawn a previous pay offer, saying any proposal must now be modified to account for the cost of the walkout.