3,000 Gatwick jobs axed

BA is to cut 5,800 jobs nationwide, on top of 7,200 announced in September.

Most of the redundancies are a result of the downturn in air travel following the September 11 terrorist attacks in America.

The Gatwick workforce will be reduced from 8,000 to 5,000.

The West Sussex airport - a major employer in the region - will also lose eight routes by 2003. BA's operations at Gatwick will have been reduced by 60 per cent since 1999.

Long-haul flights will be cut from 41 to 15 destinations BA chief executive Rod Eddington said: "This is a tough business. You only need to look at the performance of the full service airlines around the world to realise that and we have not been spared."

He blamed the decision to close some flights at Gatwick and move them to Heathrow on the fact the Sussex airport has only one runway.

He said: "The good thing for us about Heathrow is we have a true hub and spoke operation there. We can support our Heathrow services from our broader network much better than we can at Gatwick."

He added: "We must transform British Airways into a simpler, leaner, more focused airline so we can thrive and prosper in an increasingly competitive market."

Eight routes from Gatwick are being transferred to Heathrow. Long-haul flights to Mauritius, Buenos Aires, Lagos and Abuja will move by this summer and short-haul flights to Bucharest, Kiev, Riga and Zagreb will go by next summer.

BA, which is losing £2 million a day, is to simplify its operations at Gatwick by using only two aircraft types - Boeing 737s for short-haul and Boeing 777s for long-haul.

The airline hopes to achieve most of the job losses through voluntary redundancies.

The total of 13,000 job cuts will include 400 pilots, 3,400 cabin crew, 800 customer services staff at Heathrow, 550 customer services staff at Gatwick, 1,500 engineers, 2,600 world sales staff, 800 cargo employees and 2,950 others, mainly among head office and support staff.

About 6,600 of the jobs will be cut from Heathrow, 3,000 from Gatwick, 1,200 from regional bases in the UK, and 2,200 overseas.

Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, said: "We expected mild surgery but what we have got is butchery.

"We will not be rushing to the barricades, but rushing to the negotiating table. On the basis of no compulsory redundancies and no attacks on our members' terms and conditions, we will help to achieve a managed reduction."

BA plans to restructure its European short-haul flights in order to compete with no-frills airlines such as easyJet. This will include lower fares, greater flexibility and more choice.

Mr Eddington said: "We will not become a no-frills airline, nor will we launch one. We will compete profitably and intelligently alongside them by adopting that they do well - online bookings, high aircraft utilisation and pricing simplicity."

Gatwick managing director Roger Cato said it was a difficult time for BA staff based there.

He said: "However it is very encouraging that the airline recognises the benefits of Gatwick and, despite speculation about its future here, has shown it is committed to making its operations at the airport a success.

"BA will still have a significant base here, it will be the largest airline at Gatwick and we look forward to working with them to make a success of their operation."

Crawley's Labour MP Laura Moffatt said it was devastating news for Gatwick, though it could have been worse if BA had moved out altogether as some had feared.

She said: "It is a real worry for everyone at Gatwick. Thankfully we have a stable economy here and not a lot of people are losing jobs at the same time."

Sussex Enterprise policy director Mark Freud said it was not a complete disaster for the local economy.

He said: "Things are not going to happen immediately and there is no need to panic. The ability of the local economy to swallow up people who have lost jobs is very good indeed."

He said slots given up by BA would be taken up by other airlines, which would bring in new jobs.