British Airways cuts 1,700 Heathrow jobs

Unite says BA cuts will also lead to 'easyJet levels of pay' and strikes at Heathrow
British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh
BA chief executive Willie Walsh. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

British Airways is cutting 1,700 full-time cabin crew positions at Heathrow, which will reduce the number of attendants on long haul flights.

BA, which insisted the changes would not damage customer service for passengers, blamed growing losses for the cuts. Unite the union hit back, claiming the airline was suffering an "identity crisis", and trying to ape low cost carriers like easyJet.

In future BA will recruit cabin crew on lower wages, which the union said were tantamount to "easyJet levels of pay". The airline confirmed that the current pay freeze would be extended into next year.

Unite, which has been in talks with BA since the start of the year on its cost cutting plans, said the changes made a ballot for industrial action by staff more likely.

BA wrote to its 14,000 cabin crew staff today to inform them who had been accepted for voluntary redundancy. The airline said it was making 1,000 full-time cabin crew staff at Heathrow redundant, and had agreed to reduce the hours of 3,000 more workers, equivalent to cutting 1,700 full-time positions in total.

As a result of the voluntary redundancies, long haul flights from Heathrow will be staffed by 14 cabin crew rather than 15, as now. A BA spokesman said passengers would not notice any change in in-flight service because the cabin crew manager, responsible for liaising with the flight deck and other duties, would also serve passengers from now on. He said the airline had decided against cutting the number of nights cabin crew could spend at their destination before the return flight to Heathrow, and claimed that there were no changes to their terms and conditions.

Unite countered that the changes could amount to contractual breaches, for example by potentially reducing the number of breaks cabin crew are entitled to. It said it had held talks with BA representatives at conciliation service Acas last week, but the airline had not mentioned the announcement planned for today. The two sides are due to meet for talks next week.

BA posted record losses of £401m last year, and £148m for the first quarter this year. Its chief executive Willie Walsh says the airline, hit by the slump in business class travel, is in a "fight for survival".

BA said in a statement: "British Airways is currently not profitable and we expect to record a significant loss for the second consecutive year – the first time that has happened in our history. Revenues are down, so we must reduce costs to restore profitability. Without changes, we will lose more money with every month that passes. It is essential that we make ourselves more efficient if we are to ensure our long-term survival."