BA cuts flights and jobs at Gatwick

[December 8th 2008]

British Airways is to scale back its operations at Gatwick airport next summer as it focuses more on Heathrow airport.

In a statement BA said: "We have briefed our staff and their trade unions that the number of departures at Gatwick will reduce by 15% next summer compared to this summer. We are also reducing the number of aircraft at Gatwick by four from 41 to 37”.

The statement from the airline continues: "In light of this, we are looking to reduce our ground operations staff at the airport by more than 100 people. We are committed to doing this voluntarily and aim to have a voluntary severance programme in place by the end of this year."

The workers affected at Gatwick include check in staff and other ground operations staff. The GMB Union, which represents many of the workers, says it is worried that up to 180 jobs could be lost at Gatwick.

The GMB says it plans to hold an urgent meeting with BA and is determined to try to keep job losses at Gatwick to a minimum.

This summer BA launched a dozen new flights from Gatwick to European hotspots including Alicante, Antalya, Faro, Genoa, Gibraltar, Ibiza, Malaga, Malta, Palma, Paphos, Poznan and Tunis.

But the airline’s recent policy has been to move a number of flights from Gatwick to Heathrow. In the summer flights from Dallas and Houston moved from Gatwick to Heathrow following the implementation of phase one of the EU US Open Skies agreement.

BA also moved flights to Algiers from Gatwick to Heathrow. In October BA announced it was moving flights to Atlanta and Toulouse from Gatwick to Heathrow Terminal 5.

After a disastrous opening Terminal 5 at Heathrow is now operating smoothly. BA has exclusive use of the new terminal and is committed to making it a success.

BAA has put Gatwick airport up for sale and the airport is attracting interest from a number of groups including consortia led by Virgin Atlantic and Vancouver Airports Authority. The auction of Gatwick is expected to attract bids of around £2 billion.

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