BAE to axe 1,000 jobs across Britain

More than 1,000 jobs are to be axed by BAE Systems because of problems on its Nimrod surveillance aircraft contract and the downturn in the civil aircraft market.

The job losses will be spread across four BAE sites, although the brunt of them will fall at its Woodford plant in Manchester where more than half the 900 workers will lose their jobs.

Of the 1,005 jobs which are going in total, 694 are being shed as a result of changes on the Nimrod programme which will lead to a significant reduction in work levels over the next two years.

A further 233 jobs are disappearing with the scaling back of regional aircraft work and 59 jobs will go because of reduced orders for BAE's aerostructures division in Prestwick, Scotland. Last month BAE announced a £750m write-off on Nimrod and the Astute nuclear-powered submarine programme, plunging it into heavy losses for 2002. The taxpayer was forced to share £700m of the cost overruns.

A BAE spokesman said that wherever possible it would seek to achieve the job losses through voluntary means although compulsory redundancies could not be ruled out. Most of the job cuts are expected to be completed this year.

Apart from Prestwick and Woodford, the other two sites affected are Chadderton and Warton, also both in the North-west.