"I notice my prev post about BA leaving the regions has passed without comment"
Not totally unnoticed - from the Edinburgh Evening Post:
"107 ground staff face the axe as BA sells off Capital routes
ALAN RODEN TRANSPORT REPORTER (
[email protected])
SCORES of baggage handlers and check-in staff at Edinburgh Airport face being made redundant by British Airways.
Following the planned sell-off of the loss-making subsidiary BA Connect to rival Flybe, up to half of the 218 workers in the Capital could be laid off. The airline giant today announced a review of staffing levels at four regional airports - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Manchester.
The sale of 15 Scottish routes means British Airways will not need as many ground staff at the airports. Some of the workers should be able to secure new jobs with Flybe, but dozens of others are likely to become unemployed.
A spokesman for the Transport and General Workers Union said it was too early to tell how many may be made redundant.
"It is hard to say what is going to happen. What we want is to make sure our members are fully informed of what is happening and that they are properly consulted."
He said the union was planning to hold meetings with Flybe over the jobs threat.
British Airway's operation from Edinburgh is set to be reduced to just flights to the three London airports, as well as Madrid and Rome.
BA Connect routes to Birmingham, Bristol, Hamburg, Manchester, Paris and Southampton will be taken on by Flybe.
Including London City, which will be retained by British Airways under a new subsidiary, these routes account for 53 per cent of its Edinburgh operation - suggesting nearly half of all staff could be surplus to requirements.
In Glasgow, 160 staff will be affected by the review, with 56 in Aberdeen and around 300 in Manchester. At Edinburgh, those affected all work on the check-in desks, or as baggage handlers and customer service liaison officers.
A spokesman for the airline said there would be a "significant impact" on ground operations as a result of the proposed deal.
"Up to the end of the transition period on March 25, there will be no changes," he said. "However, a significant proportion of ground-handling activity at these airports is driven by BA Connect operations. As a result, BA has launched a review of its regional ground-handling activity, which it hopes to conclude as quickly as possible. Senior managers will be visiting the four airports [to meet with staff] next week."