BA to cut 1,200 jobs in bmi takeover

British Airways (BA) has announced it will cut up to 1,200 jobs as it absorbs the mainline operations of British Midland International (bmi).

Loss-making bmi, sold by the Lufthansa Group to BA parent International Airlines Group (IAG) in December 2011, has around 2,700 employees.

BA said it began consultations today with trade unions representing bmi staff. Most of the job losses will come at bmi’s Castle Donington corporate headquarters in the East Midlands of England, and at regional airports.

Jobs secured under BA’s proposals include roughly 1,100 pilots, cabin crew and engineers based at London’s Heathrow airport, plus 400 passenger services jobs in the airport’s Terminal 1.

The UK flag carrier said it is also working to find potential employment opportunities for bmi personnel facing redundancy with its industry partners, such as Rolls-Royce in the Midlands. It said it will also seek to create openings at its own engineering facility at Glasgow airport in Scotland.

“Bmi is heavily loss-making and is not a viable business as it stands today,” said BA chief executive Keith Williams. “Our proposals would secure 1,500 jobs that would otherwise be lost. As we look to restructure the business and restore profitability, job losses are deeply regrettable but inevitable.”

Integrating bmi’s mainline operations into its own organization will give BA an additional 56 average daily slot pairs at capacity-constrained Heathrow. It plans to use many of the new slots to expand services to long-haul destinations, particularly in the Asia/Pacific region. However, to gain regulatory approval for the merger, IAG had to give up 14 LHR slot pairs and offer other conditions. 

Discussions are continuing with potential buyers for two other bmi divisions, bmi regional and low-cost carrier offshoot, bmibaby.

Article Source : ATW Daily News