Pay freeze under consideration at BA - Heathrow Airport News

Airport news for Heathrow on 09/02/2009.

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The action is being considered after the carrier reported a loss of £70 million for the nine months ended 31 December. Additional voluntary redundancies are also being looked at, as the airline opened talks with unions over both "pay and productivity".

BA’s announcement came after it released the fact that it had moved into the red for the period. The same nine months of the previous year saw the carrier reporting a profit of £816 million.

Costs increased by £1 billion during the nine months, to £7 billion, on the back of record fuel prices in 2008 and the more recent weakness of the pound.

The airline reiterated its warning last week that full-year operating losses would amount to approximately £150 million.

Fuel costs jumped by 50 per cent, to £2.2 billion, and non-fuel expenses increased by £335 million, to £4.7 billion, on currency movements.

Toward the end of last year, BA took action to cut costs, including the reduction of its management team by 478 staff members through a voluntary redundancy scheme.

Although widespread job losses are not anticipated at this time, the airline has confirmed that it would continue to "review every aspect of the business to control costs".

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