More cutbacks at BA

British Airways (BA) is carrying out more cutbacks as it tries to cope with the downturn in the airline industry.

BA is to merge two of its regional airline businesses with the loss of 200 jobs.

And the company has also said it is seeking to put back the delivery of new Airbus planes.

Since the attack in the US last month, BA has already said it plans to cut 7,000 jobs and reduce capacity by 9%.

Earlier this week BA said it had seen a 22% fall in total passenger traffic last month, and that it expected further falls

Merger

BA said it would be merging its British Airways Regional unit into CitiExpress to create a single regional airline.

The merger will lead to the loss of 200 jobs and will also mean some cuts to services.

"This move is imperative to protect the future of our operations in the UK regions and will ensure that our routes can become viable by achieving a better balance between capacity and demand, " the company said.

Delay

The company also said that it is seeking to put back the delivery of new Airbus planes.

BA has ordered 43 narrow-body planes to be delivered between now and 2005.

The airline is scheduled to take delivery of five of the planes by the end of this year.

"We aimed before September 11 to take delivery by 2005... We have a schedule of delivery dates, and we are looking to change the schedules... It may not be that we delay beyond 2005," a BA spokeswoman said.