BA denies jobs are to go

British Airways has admitted that it is committed to cutting costs in the future – but has stopped short of stating that it is to cut jobs. Several of today’s newspapers report that the carrier may have to cut as many as 5,000 jobs in order to make cost savings of GBP500 million – after 13,000 workers lost their jobs at the airline over the last two years. The Daily Mail, which states that the carrier will present a new business plan late this month, clearly aimed at improving profits, quotes a spokesman as saying: “Details of the plan have not been finalised but cutting costs is clearly going to be a key part of it.” News From Abroad this morning contacted the BA press office. A spokeswoman said: “Any newspaper reports of job losses are pure speculation; there have been no announcements of that type. Obviously any business plan is going to look at cutting costs but beyond that there are no specifics.”