An airline is making 120 engineers and support staff at Gatwick redundant.

Union Amicus is protesting after British Airways announced it was making around a fifth of its Gatwick aircraft maintenance posts redundant.

In the last decade the number of BA engineers at the airport has dropped from 900 to 600. When the new redundancies go through there will be just 470 left.

The firm says fewer engineers are required because it is bringing in new airliners requiring less work to keep them flying safely and a Boeing 767 refit programme at Gatwick is almost complete.

Short-haul aircraft are maintained at BA's plant in Glasgow and the long-haul Boeing 747s are maintained in Cardiff. Amicus has been negotiating with BA, which says it is committed to making all the redundancies be voluntary.

One long-serving Gatwick engineer, who asked not to be named, said: "We just got our letters on Friday. It's a fair old chunk of the workforce and I can't see how all the redundancies will voluntary.

"To be fair they've offered us work at Heathrow if we want it because a lot of the engineers up there are approaching retirement but some of us were redeployed up their four years ago and fought tooth and nail to get back to Gatwick, so I don't think there will be too many takers.

"It has not been a huge surprise because managers have been dropping hints since Christmas and originally we were told there would be even more redundancies just to soften up the workforce."

Gordon White, national officer for civil aviation at Amicus, said: "It is vital to the long-term interests of Britain that we retain the skills to maintain our own aircraft.

"Gatwick has a long record of high quality skilled aircraft maintenance and we are determined to protect the future of aircraft engineering at Gatwick."

BA has consulted union representatives. Staff will be moved to other sites or given voluntary redundancy. Two of the airline's hangers at the airport will be demolished.

A BA spokesman said: "The 120 posts relate to approximately 100 engineers and 20 other support roles. This is now subject to a 90-day consultation with staff and trade union officials.

He added: "Staff will be able to register for voluntary severance or early retirement and can also register for a voluntary transfer to Heathrow or our engineering bases in Cardiff or Glasgow."

Monday, May 22, 2006