BA CitiExpress axes 12 routes, will cut 500 staff
David Kaminski-Morrow, London (24Apr02, 11:28 GMT, 357 words)
British Airways’ (BA) regional CitiExpress division is to cut 12 loss-making routes and the equivalent of more than 500 jobs over the next two years as part of the flag-carrier’s continuing Future Size and Shape review.
BA CitiExpress says the move will save £20 million ($29 million) by 2004 and adds that the route changes, combined with a planned reduction of its regional fleet to 82 aircraft from the present 92, will amount to an 8% capacity cut.
Four routes from Cardiff International Airport – to Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle – will be dropped. Two routes will go at both Bristol (Brussels and Cork) and Plymouth (Dublin and Cork) while four other services will be axed at other UK regional airports: Southampton-Frankfurt, Jersey-Paris, Newcastle-Cork and Belfast-Sheffield.
But CitiExpress is also to launch two new routes – Manchester-Venice and Bristol-Leeds Bradford – and will increase frequencies on key business routes out of Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Southampton.
It says that the fleet and route amendments will mean cutting three of its 15 crew reporting bases, at Aberdeen, Belfast and Jersey. CitiExpress says that a total of more than 500 positions will be affected: over 230 in cabin services, some 50 in each of flight operations and engineering, plus 170 support staff and a handful of ground services personnel.
“We now have the framework to develop our business and deliver the required cost savings,” says BA UK business general manager David Evans. “We are laying the platform for growth by getting our business in shape.
“We will have the right aircraft at the right time on the right routes and, where the business demands, we will have new services and extra frequencies.”
BA CitiExpress, formally launched at the end of March, was created last year from the integration of British Regional Airlines and Brymon Airways, and will this year see BA Regional and Manx Airlines brought under the same brand. The carrier says that the cuts announced today will bring the total reduction of staff since the beginning of integration to 20%.
By March 2004, the carrier adds, it will operate six aircraft types on 113 routes from 28 UK regional airports.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
