John Menzies set to abandon four airports in the UK

John Menzies plans to cease cargo handling operations at four UK airports by next month. Menzies Aviation said it would exit its cargo operations at Glasgow, Birmingham, East Midlands and Manchester airports, as it seeks to return the unit to profitability.

It will take a charge of £3m over the closures, which will leave the unit to focus on Heathrow, Aberdeen and Belfast airports.

A spokesman for John Menzies, which also runs a newspaper and magazine distribution business, admitted there could be redundancies among the 104 staff employed by the company at the four airports affected. However, no more than 10 jobs would be lost, and possibly none, because Menzies has agreed to transfer all of the affected contracts and associated staff to rival operators, he added.