Jobs at Gatwick are under threat after holiday giant MyTravel announced it is to axe up to 540 posts in a bid to cut costs.

The company, which operates ten long-haul and more than 15 short-haul services from the West Sussex airport, said yesterday the cuts would affect pilots and cabin crew.

Redundancies are expected to take place from November. The cutbacks will affect MyTravel's head office in Manchester as well as its operations at Gatwick, Stansted and Cardiff.

The firm is also reducing its fleet of aircraft by nine, leaving it with 21.

The company has been making losses in the past 18 months and the company said it was trying to get back into profitability for 2005. As part of a so-called turnaround plan, the company said it was trying to reduce the proportion of fixed costs.

A spokeswoman said: "We have to make sure we have a realistic size of fleet for the marketplace."

The job losses are expected to account for about 24 per cent of MyTravel's staff.

Union sources said the job losses were expected to affect 118 pilots, 372 cabin crew and 50 head office employees.

The firm is retiring its Boeing fleet of aircraft. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said it would try to save some of the threatened pilot jobs.

National officer David Margrie said: "We have a good working relationship with the company and we will work closely with management to try to save some of the jobs."