British Airways has confirmed it is planning to close a Glasgow operation, with the possible loss to the city of 138 jobs.

Some of the jobs would go through voluntary severance, but others would switch to London under the plan to shut its Glasgow cabin crew base.

Staff at the base currently operate on the airline's services between Glasgow, Edinburgh and Heathrow.
A 90-day consultation process with trade unions has now begun, BA confirmed.

The news came as BA chief executive Willie Walsh was in Edinburgh to meet Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.

Mr Walsh confirmed there would be no compulsory redundancies and said the closure plans followed a review of costs and productivity at the base.

He told a media briefing in the Scottish capital: "We've taken a decision to crew the flights that operate to Glasgow and Edinburgh from our Heathrow base, rather than the Glasgow base.

"The work, in effect, is transferring to our main London base. Cabin crew employed at Glasgow will be given the opportunity to transfer to Heathrow or voluntary severance terms will be made available.

"We've started a 90-day consultation process with the trade unions representing cabin crew. That started today. This follows a review of the cost and productivity of the base.

"The base is significantly less productive than the main base that we have at Heathrow and our base at Gatwick and it's also more expensive.

"Clearly in the economic environment that prevails today, we have to address these issues and that's why we've announced this decision and the process of consultation with the trade unions."