British Airways intensified its dispute with unions over cabin crew working practices yesterday by announcing plans to push through changes on long-haul flights without union agreement.

The embattled airline, which has been in talks with unions since the start of the year over changes to the pay and conditions of cabin crew, said that, from the end of next month, the number of crew on its Boeing 747 flights out of Heathrow would be cut from 15 to 14.

To ensure that service levels do not suffer, each flight’s customer services director (CSD), the most senior member of the cabin crew, will start to serve passengers.

At present, CSDs have a managerial role and do not serve passengers.

One senior BA crew member said last night: “This represents a backward move for CSDs. It’s effectively a demotion.”

About 1,000 BA cabin crew have opted to take voluntary redundancy as the airline seeks to cut costs, and a further 3,000 have expressed an interest in switching to part-time working, equating to a further 700 positions — bringing the total to 1,700 jobs.

The move on crew numbers on long-haul flights, to be accompanied by a two-year pay freeze, subject to talks, is bound to inflame relations with crew and unions.

The British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association told the 14,000 cabin crew last month to “hold firm” against BA’s “smash-and-grab raid” on contractual terms and conditions, asserting that the recession was receding.

BA insisted that it had no alternative but to make changes. It said: “The aviation industry remains in the worst downturn in its history.

British Airways is not profitable and we expect to record a significant loss for the second consecutive year — the first time that has happened in our history.”

A spokesman said that the only way to restore profitability was to cut costs: “We cannot ignore the fact that our Heathrow-based cabin crew costs are much higher than those of our Gatwick-based crew and of our competitors.”

The airline denied that it was being heavy handed.

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