17/02/2004

Belfast to get jobs boost from BA call centre restructuring

Up to 50 new jobs look set to be created by British Airways (BA) in Belfast after it was announced that the airline is to restructure its UK call centre operation.

BA said it was restructuring the operation in response to the growing number of customers who book flights on the airline’s website and the declining number of calls handled.

Telephone calls to the airline’s five call centres in the UK have fallen by 34% in the last two years from 13 million to 8.5 million per year as the popularity of the internet continues to grow.

The airline has similarly reduced the number of staff employed in its UK call centre operation from 2,300 in 2001 to 1,400 today.

The five UK call centres now have an occupancy of just over 60% and following an 18-month review, the airline intends to close centres in Glasgow and London and move the work to other British Airways call centres in Newcastle, Manchester and Belfast.

The intended closures are planned to take place in Glasgow by November 2004 and London by March 2005.

The planned changes will impact around 400 staff of which 350 are based in Glasgow and 50 in London. The changes will also lead to the recruitment of nearly 400 new positions in the airline’s call centres in Manchester, Newcastle and Belfast.

The announcement will serve to reassure the company's 100 staff in the province who had feared that the local call centre could be in line for closure.

(MB)

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