Gate Gourmet and the Transport and General Workers Union have reached an agreement which could end their lengthy dispute.

The in-flight caterer will not reveal full details until staff have been consulted, but has pledged to "rebuild trust and confidence" should the settlement be ratified.

"Both the company and the union are pleased that a way forward has been found and, if the agreement is ratified, both sides have committed to working together to rebuild trust and confidence after all the difficulties of recent weeks," said Gate Gourmet and the union (T&G) in a joint statement on Monday.

The dispute was sparked when the caterer sacked 670 workers in a row over internal restructure. Staff at British Airways, Gate Gourmet’s biggest UK customer, then walked out in sympathy.

The two-day wildcat action by BA ground staff at Heathrow grounded all the airline's flights from the airport, leaving more than 100,000 passengers stranded, and costing the airline an estimated £40m ($72m).

After the BA staff had returned to work, the stand-off at Gate Gourmet rumbled on, with the sacked staff picketing outside the caterer's Heathrow factory.

Gate Gourmet has offered all staff - including those that had been sacked - redundancy packages, which were accepted by around 700 staff, according to the union.