09/27/2001 - Updated 09:39 AM ET British Airways announces massive cuts in services

Airline industry layoffs More than 100,000 layoffs have been announced by the airlines and companies in related industries since the Sept. 11 attacks, including up to 13,000 by Delta on Wednesday. Some of the largest cuts include:

Boeing 30,000

AMR (American, TWA) 20,000

United 20,000

Delta up to 13,000

Continental 12,000

US Airways 11,000

Northwest 10,000

British Airways 7,000

Air Canada 5,000 (in addition to 4,000 previously announced) Bombardier 3,800

SwissAir 3,000

Textron 2,500 (in addition to 5,000 previously announced)

America West 2,000

Sabena 2,000 (tentative)

Midway 1,700 (shutting down)

Virgin Atlantic 1,200

Scandinavian Airlines System 1,100

Source: AP LONDON (AP) — British Airways announced major cuts in services Thursday, axing 190 weekly flights as its business plummets in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States and the global economic downturn.

Britain's biggest airline said the cuts involved about 10% of its weekly flights, including 36 flights to the United States. The airline has already announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs and withdraw some planes.

The airline said it was scrapping service between London's Heathrow Airport and Belfast in northern Ireland. The route has been losing money for the past four years.

David Spurlock, BA's director of strategy, said: "The current difficult market conditions demand we take firm action. Our focus has to be on making best use of our assets."

Airlines around the world have been cutting staff and flights as they watch passenger demand drop in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington earlier this month. The airlines were already facing sharp falls in business because of the poor state of the world economy.

British Airways, Europe's largest carrier, is considered particularly vulnerable to an expected drop in trans-Atlantic travel, which accounts for 38% of the airline's capacity and the bulk of its profits.

The airline, which employs 56,000 people, had already been bruised by no-frills airlines offering cut-rate European flights and tougher competition on flights to North America.

BA did not say if the planned cuts would affect its plans to resume supersonic Concorde flights next month. The trans-Atlantic flights were suspended after an Air France Concorde crashed last year.

Service to New York, Boston, Washington, San Diego and Houston are to be cut.

Service to the Middle East is to be scaled back. Services in Europe were also cut.

The airline warned there could be further cuts in service.

"This is the first phase of measures to address the changing conditions. We are reviewing the market and our network on a week-to-week basis and consequently will quickly address further issues as they arise in order to protect our business," Spurlock said.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 27, 2001