UK carrier BMI is planning to reduce its workforce by up to 1,500 through natural wastage over the next three years as it implements its £100 million cost-cutting programme.
As part of its "Project Blue Sky", the Star Alliance carrier says it will cut mostly the high turnover "front line customer facing staff" from its 4,500-plus workforce.
A BMI spokesman says: "We are not axing jobs. We have the cost reduction programme started and we anticipate reduction of the headcount through normal attrition and improving business processes over the next three to four years. It is not a redundancy programme."
Most of the cuts are expected to affect jobs at London Heathrow airport, which is the carrier's main base.
BMI says it has held talks with employees over the proposed cuts. "Staff have been informed on what has been happening and there has been a full communication process over the past weeks and months," says the spokesman.
He stresses that the job cuts are not the only measures being taken by the airline as part of Project Blue Sky. The carrier announced on Friday that it plans to standardise its short and medium haul fleet, replacing its six Fokker 100s with Airbus A319s. As a result, at Heathrow the carrier will operate an all-Airbus family fleet.
BMI is aiming to be profitable with the successful implementation of the cost-cutting plan. The airline suffered pre-tax losses of £19.6 million in 2002, dropping from a pre-tax profit position of £12.4 million in 2001.
The spokesman says: "We are expecting to make a loss, with the war in Iraq and the effect of SARS on our transfer traffic. It will be very hard to recover after this year. Hopefully it will be a better result next year."
Source: Flight Daily News
