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Mar 23, 2006
British Airways has declared
that it will be restructuring parts of its UK direct sales operations,
resulting in the closure of the airline’s travel shops. BA says the move is in
response to changing customer behavior and increased sales on its ba.com
website.
Travel shops, as well as the
airline's Belfast
based customer call center, are both expected to close by August. The proposed
changes will affect around 300 staff who work in the 17 high street travel
shops, corporate travel agency Worldlink based at Heathrow and its back office
support areas, and a further 100 staff currently working in the airline’s Belfast
call center. BA says it will consult with its trade unions about the proposed closures.
Martin George, British Airways'
commercial director, said, “It is clear that an increasing number of our customers
want to book and organize their travel plans with British Airways via the
Internet. This is a travel industry wide trend and we have to ensure that our
business reflects this.”
“Our UK call centers have seen the
number of telephone calls fall by more than 60 percent since 2001, from 15
million to six million calls today and we have reduced our headcount in this
area of the business by similar amounts from 2200 to 800 people. Despite
closing our call centers in Glasgow and London in 2004, we still
have too much property for the size of our operation,” George added.
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