BA takeover to cost 1,200 jobs at BMI

Up to 1,200 jobs will be lost in the £172m takeover of BMI by the parent group of British Airways, the airline has announced.

BA opened consultations with unions on proposals to integrate the BMI business into its operations at Heathrow Airport after the acquisition was given regulatory approval by the European Commission last month.

Positions facing the axe are at BMI's head office at Castle Donington, near Derby, and at regional airports. BA said that without the acquisition all 2,700 jobs at BMI, which is losing £3m a week, could have been lost. The jobs of 1,100 cabin crew, pilots and engineers at Heathrow and up to 400 passenger service roles at Heathrow's Terminal 1 have been secured.

Unions expressed dismay at the scale of the job cuts, saying they would try to mitigate the losses. Under the takeover by BA's parent company, International Airlines Group, which includes Spanish carrier Iberia, BMI lost a number of take-off and landing slots at Heathrow, including routes to Nice, Cairo, Moscow and Edinburgh.