BA relies heavily on transatlantic flights

The airline is also bringing forward 3,000 job cuts planned for March next year to September this year in an effort to cut costs.

The airline has already cancelled four transatlantic flights this week.

The capacity cuts will come into effect in April and May when about 6.4 million people would normally fly with British Airways.

The cutbacks roughly equate to 132,000 fewer aeroplane seats during the two-month period.

In a statement, chief executive Rod Eddington said: "There are clearly tough times ahead and experience has shown us that conserving cash is critical at these times."

Transatlantic cuts

British Airways, which has slashed thousands of jobs and cut capacity by about a fifth in the past two years, relies heavily on income from its transatlantic routes.

International passenger travel will fall 15 to 20% during the war, experts say How other airlines around the world are cutting costs

The reduced transatlantic service will include the suspension until the end of May of one of the seven Heathrow to New York daily return services.

It will also mean the cancellation of one of two daily Heathrow-Chicago return services until 8 April.

Extra services between Heathrow and Newark, Heathrow and Toronto, and Gatwick and Houston in Texas are being delayed.

The changes represent a reduction of capacity on the North Atlantic routes of 6%.

Middle East flights

British Airways said services between London and Tel Aviv in Israel, which were suspended earlier this month, will start again on Friday.

We will survive this conflict BA chief executive Rod Eddington

But services to Kuwait, also halted earlier in March, will continue to be suspended.

London-Dubai services will continue on a reduced-frequency basis.

The changes represent a 26% reduction in BA's Middle East capacity.

'Good shape'

The airline said it was also reviewing all of its capital expenditure and extending its unpaid leave scheme for staff.

"We are still assessing the impact on passenger demand, but the industry has been feeling the effects of war for some weeks now.

"However, we are in good shape with more than �2bn in cash and committed facilities available and we will survive this conflict.

"We will continue to review our capacity and forward bookings on a regular basis," said Mr Eddington in a statement.

But investors were unimpressed by BA's efforts to cut costs - the shares dropped two pence to 120p in afternoon trade.

Last week, the airline said it was still on track to post a profit this financial year despite the war in Iraq.