British Airways' new regional subsidiary BA CitiExpress is cutting 12 routes, 500 jobs and simplifying its fleet as part of the airline's Future Size and Shape review aimed at saving £20 million ($29 million) annually by 2004.
BA CitiExpress formed in March from BA's regional operations and two BA subsidiaries, British Regional Airlines and Brymon Airlines.
Twelve routes from UK regional airports will be cut - including from Cardiff to Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle; Bristol to Brussels and Cork; and Plymouth to Cork and Dublin. Overall, regional capacity will be reduced by 8%.
The airline's fleet of 92 aircraft of nine types will be cut to 82 aircraft, of only six types: the Embraer ERJ-145, Bombardier Dash 8 Q300, BAE Systems Avro RJ100, BAe Jetstream 41, ATR 72 and BAe ATP. BA CitiExpress's Boeing 737s and Airbus 319s will return to British Airways' base at London Gatwick, and exchanged for 16 RJ100s operated from Gatwick by BA. Cabin services will see 233 jobs, go support 170, engineering 52, flight operations 48 and ground services eight.
Source: Flight International
