BRITISH Airways is to cut an extra 1,200 jobs, taking the total reduction to 4,900 by next year, it was revealed yesterday.
Most of the new losses will be overseas and follow a high response from staff wanting to work part-time or take voluntary redundancy, the airline said.
The new job cut figure was released as BA announced a record pre-tax loss of £292m for the six months to the end of September.
The airline, which recorded a loss of £401m in its previous financial year, said total revenues slumped by almost 14 per cent in the period.
It is the first time BA has recorded a first half loss – normally a buoyant period for the airline as it includes the holiday season.
The deficit is about £40m higher than city analysts had been expecting. Even when items such as pension costs are excluded, BA made a loss of £111m, against a profit of £140m a year earlier.
BA had previously announced plans to cut its workforce by 3,700 by next March, including about 2,000 cabin crew, 1,000 check-in and other customer-facing staff, and the rest made up of managers, pilots and admin workers.
About 1,900 jobs have been lost this year, so a further 3,000 will go by next March.
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