British airport operator BAA plans to cut 700 jobs at its three largest airports in a bid to reduce costs by £45 million a year.
Despite an expected rise in passenger numbers of 3 per cent next year, BAA said the job losses were vital to counter threats to its business, including passengers spending less in its shops, airports becoming more crowded and an inability to eliminate out-dated working practices before the new Terminal 5 opens at Heathrow.
BAA said back office and management jobs would be removed at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, but it insisted there would be no cuts in frontline security staff. It has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies.
A spokesman for the operator said staff would be redeployed where possible.
BAA posted improved results for the six months to September 30th, reporting a 9.6 per cent increase in underlying operating profits to £412 million.
Retail sales at its seven UK airports - including Gatwick and Stansted - rose 3.8 per cent to £324 million in the first half - a better performance than many high street chains.
Combined with a 2.5 per cent rise in the number of passengers passing through its airports and higher landing fees, this helped overall revenues to rise by 6.4 per cent to £1.17 billion.