British Airways, Europe's third-largest airline, said today it planned to cut almost 600 management jobs as part of wider plans to reduce labour costs.
BA said it would cut 35 per cent of its 1,715 senior and middle management staff by March 2008.
Senior managers would be hit the hardest with half of their jobs to go. The cuts would save the airline £50 million (€73 million), contributing to a previously-announced target to reduce costs by £300 million (€440 million) by March 2007.
"We must lower our costs so that we can fund future investment in our business," BA's new Chief Executive Willie Walsh said in a statement.
BA shares were trading 1 per cent firmer at 315 pence at 1030 GMT. The broader market was down 0.7 per cent.
Former Aer Lingus Chief Excecutive Mr Walsh, who took over the top job at BA from Rod Eddington last month, has been under pressure to further cut costs at the airline which faces high fuel prices and tough competition.
Mr Eddington cut 14,000 jobs during his five-year tenure at BA while Mr Walsh cut one third Aer Lingus's workforce before his move.
Mr Walsh said the senior management job cuts would be carried out in three phases with 94 of the top executives to leave by March 31st, 2006 and further reductions over the next two years. He said the decision marked a renewed effort to meet the airline's goal of achieving a 10 per cent operating margin.
A source told Reuters last month that Mr Walsh was eyeing a 15 per cent cut in its total workforce of 46,000 over several years as part of its move into a single new terminal at London Heathrow, its home airport.
Labour relations are a priority for Mr Walsh following three summers of industrial strife at BA's London operations and ahead of negotiations to change working practices at Heathrow.