More than 400 ground handlers employed at the airport by Menzies were due to walk out on Friday, but the action was pulled late in the day after Menzies made an improved pay offer. Unite will now ballot its members at Heathrow on the deal.

A further 72-hour strike remains fixed for Thursday 29 December, ending in the early hours of New Year’s Day. The action is likely to affect a number of carriers operating out of Heathrow Terminals 2, 3 and 4. These include: Air Canada, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Air Portugal, Austrian Airlines, Qantas, Egypt Air, Aer Lingus and Finnair.

The strike will coincide by parallel strike action by Border Force officials, who will walk out four days over 23-26 December and again over 28-31 December.

Unite regional officer Kevin Hall said: "Unite has been adamant that Menzies was able to offer an improved pay offer, and that has proved to be the case. As an act of goodwill, the strike action scheduled to begin tomorrow [16 December] has been suspended so that members can be balloted on the new offer."

Unite added by way of confirmation: "Strike action scheduled to begin on Thursday 29 December remains in place pending the outcome of the ballot of members."