Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — British Airways Plc, Europe’s third- largest airline, will cut more than 100 jobs at London’s Gatwick airport as it reduces services there by 15 percent from mid-2009.

The number of aircraft based at the airport will be reduced to 37 from 41, the Harmondsworth, England-based airline said today in an e-mailed statement. The cuts to ground operations staffing will be on a voluntary basis, according to the statement.

“We have briefed our staff and their trade unions that the number of departures at Gatwick will reduce by 15 percent next summer compared to this summer,” the airline said in its statement. “We aim to have a voluntary severance program in place by the end of the year” to reduce “ground operations staff at the airport by more than 100 people.”

British Airways said Dec. 2 it’s in talks with Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd. about a merger that would help reduce costs as the industry’s losses mount. It said last month it was stopping its service from Gatwick to Dublin and Zurich.

The GMB union said it was surprised by the announcement of job cuts.

“We will be speaking to British Airways tomorrow to establish exactly what is happening,” union spokesman Adrian Baker said today by telephone. “We’d like to try and save as many jobs as possible.” He said it was “too early” to say whether there would be any industrial action.

Combined Losses

The International Air Transport Association said last month that global air travel fell for a second consecutive month in October. The group predicts combined losses of more than $5.2 billion this year.

The number of passengers carried by British Airways fell 5.9 percent in November as the credit crisis and economic slowdown hurt business travel, the company said Dec. 3. The proportion of seats filled dropped 2.2 percentage points to 74.4 percent.

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