British Ryanair flights ran normally Thursday morning despite a pilots strike, the airline said.

Fear of widespread disruption after the Dublin-based carrier lost an offer from the High Court to force its pilots to flee.

But the airline announced Thursday a punctuality rate of 97% for its first departures and arrivals at British airports, because of the small number of delays attributable to air traffic control.

Ryanair said: "We do not expect any disruption of our flights to or from our UK airports.

"We would like to thank all our British pilots who have chosen to work to protect the flights and travel plans of our customers and their families during the holiday weekend.

A judge sitting in London on Wednesday rejected an urgent request from the airline to seek an injunction against the British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa).

After its victory in the courts, Balpa announced that it had offered to reopen discussions with Ryanair with the ultimate goal of avoiding industrial action in a dispute over wages and working conditions.

But the union said the airline "had rejected the offer" and that the strikes would proceed as scheduled from 12:01 pm Thursday to 23:59 on Friday.

Brian Strutton, Secretary General of Balpa, said: "We are extremely disappointed that Ryanair has taken such a bellicose and negative stance.

"We got used to their macho attitude, but unfortunately, it's their passengers who will pay the price for Ryanair's attitude."

A second series of strikes is scheduled from 2 to 4 September.

Just hours before the London judgment, Ryanair had a similar result in the Dublin High Court, which means that flights departing from Irish airports were operating normally.

The airline has urged the Forsa union and what it has described as "this small minority of highly paid Irish pilots" to resume mediation.