Jessica Starmer said she was "delighted with the result"

Jessica Starmer, 26, from Wareham in Dorset, said she was denied a request to work 50% part-time so she could look after her one-year-old daughter, Beth.

BA denied the complaint, arguing it was a health and safety case.

It said Ms Starmer had not completed the required amount of flying hours. BA's appeal will be heard in London.

A BA spokesman said: "We were disappointed that the original tribunal found against us, hence our appeal, because this case is about safety, not gender."

The airline said its pilots should have at least 2,000 flying hours experience - "around three years of full-time flying before they could work at 50% levels".

Ms Starmer, whose husband, Simon is also a BA pilot, had claimed she had the right to work part-time under flexible working regulations brought by government last year.