Following a 15-hour negotiating session which ended at 6.00 am, reprafteresentatives of staff at Hong Kong Airport Services said the company had agreed to pay each full-time employee a bonus equivalent to 18 days' pay.

On top of that, the company will also give a one-off additional payment of 1,000 Hong Kong dollars (S$191.64) to all staff.

'Although we cannot say we are 100 percent happy about the company's final decision, their offer is acceptable,' said Ms Ng Wai-yee, spokesman for the 3,000 staff affected, adding there would be no further strikes.

The company is the largest of the three major ground services providers at the airport.

The negotiations took place after more than 500 staff went on strike on December 27 in protest against the company's plan to drop their annual performance-based bonus.

The three-hour industrial action resulted in major disruptions to departures and baggage delivery for more than 80 flights, with passengers complaining they had to wait up to three hours before they could pick up their luggage.

It also led to the intervention of the Airport Authority and the government in a bid to settle the dispute. -- AFP