British Airways PLC is shedding 1,000 jobs, putting 3,000 more employees on part-time work and reducing the size of cabin crews at Heathrow in an effort to get the troubled airline's finances back in order, AP quoted a spokesman as saying today. BA spokesman Paul Marston said the company was in «a very serious financial position» and was working hard to turn itself around with an aggressive cost-reduction program. The job losses and part-time work, which he said were voluntary, would be the equivalent of cutting 1,700 positions. Marston said BA, which expects to see a «significant loss» for the second year running, needed the cuts in order to secure its future in an airline market which is likely to remain grim for some time. «We do see any green shoots of recovery just right yet,» he said. Marston also announced a companywide freeze on basic pay and said cabin crews operating out of London's Heathrow Airport would be downsized _ so that the typical 747 jet flying from London's Heathrow Airport on a long-haul trip would take off carrying 14 members of crew instead of the usual complement of 15. Marston said customers weren't likely to notice the difference. He added that changes would come into effect in the middle of November. He declined to say how much money BA hoped to save from cuts. The job cuts and pay freeze have been discussed with staff for months, but negotiations with the unions have been deadlocked and BA said it needed to move now to ensure the company stayed alive.
