Last week, Walsh reminded staff of his penchant for costcutting when he slashed 400 jobs by closing a Belfast call centre and bringing down the shutters on British Airways' network of high-street travel shops.

The move cuts across a pledge given by Willie Walsh last October that any job losses resulting from further costsaving measures at the airline would be achieved by voluntary means. BA said its entire network of 17 travel shops would close by August with 300 job losses, while a further 100 staff at the Belfast call centre would be laid off.

BA's travel shops and call centre are reckoned to be making losses of about £3m ( 4.4m) a year, as more and more passengers book flights on the internet. A BA spokesman said: "We are not ruling out compulsory redundancies but clearly we would want to keep them to a minimum. Everyone affected will have the chance to apply for other jobs within the airline."

Martin George, BA's commercial director, said calls to the airline's UK call centres had fallen by 60% since 2001 from 15 million to six million, and the business had to reduce its head count. Some 1,400 jobs had already gone with the closure of BA's Glasgow and London call centres in 2004. The two remaining call centres in Manchester and Newcastle, which employ 700 between them, will continue to handle all enquiries from passengers telephoning from Britain.

Walsh clearly displayed his mettle at Aer Lingus by revitalising the airline after the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. The national carrier had been in danger of almost imminent collapse.

Walsh transformed Aer Lingus into an effective low-cost operator, while at the same time expanding its route network across Europe.

The successful strategy saw the airline placed on a firm financial footing, making it a viable candidate for a flotation which the government and current management now want to happen later this year.

The latest British Airways cutbacks form part of the £450m ( 670m) efficiency programme for BA announced a week ago. Walsh aims to achieve the savings before the airline moves into Heathrow's newly-constructed Terminal 5 in 2008.

Walsh, a former Aer Lingus pilot, has now forced through 1,000 job losses since he took over as chief executive on 1 October. At the end of November he announced that 600 senior and middle managers . . . a third of the BA total . . . would lose their jobs. Many face compulsory redundancy.

The first 93 have already been selected.

The cuts had long been expected, as Walsh aims to make BA leaner and fitter to face up to international competition. His predecessor, Rod Eddington, cut 13,000 jobs at BA, then a fifth of the workforce after 9-11 in 2001.