British Airways cuts services to Ireland

British Airways has announced major cutbacks in scheduled flights to the US and Europe, including the scrapping of services to Belfast, Shannon and Cork.

The airline's route between Heathrow and Belfast will be withdrawn from October 27th, as will flights from Gatwick to Shannon and Cork.

The ending of the Heathrow-Belfast service will mean BA's operating base at Belfast International Airport will close. A spokesman for British Airways told ireland.comthe route was "consistently unprofitable" and had lost £38 million in the last four years.

BA employs 310 people in Northern Ireland. The spokesman said up to 160 of these could be made redundant. Locally-based engineers, cabin crew and customer services staff are expected to be affected.

"Obviously, those who are to lose their jobs will be the first to know," he said. He did not anticipate "significant" redundancies in Cork or Shannon.

The SDLP said the announcement was a "huge blow" to Northern Ireland, particularly following the news that up to 2,000 jobs are at risk at Shorts.

The lack of flights would also raise major transportation issues for the people of the North, according to Mr Alasdair McDonnell, MLA for South Belfast. He called on the Minister for Trade and Enterprise, Sir Reg Empey, to take action to prevent futher job losses in the North.

Mr David Burnside, Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim, said this was a "wrong decision" by the airline. He said he would be meeting with airport management tomorrow to attempt to secure an alternative carrier for the Belfast-Heathrow route.

A total of 190 British Airways services will be affected worldwide, including 36 fewer flights to America.

The changes follow last week's announcement by BA that 7,000 jobs are to be cut and capacity reduced by 10 per cent because of the impact on demand following the September 11th attacks in the US.