Willie Walsh, British Airways' chief executive

Nearly 7,000 British Airways staff have taken what the airline termed "an early opportunity," to apply for voluntary pay cuts in support of the airline's cost reduction programme. Of the 40,000-strong workforce, 6,940 employees had volunteered for unpaid leave, part-time working or unpaid work by June 24th. About 800 will work for no pay in July. BA said the actions of the staff will save the company up to £10 million.

Willie Walsh, British Airways' chief executive, said: "This is a fantastic first response. I want to thank everyone who has volunteered to help us pull through this difficult period.

"This response clearly shows the significant difference individuals can make."

Options were made available for staff to volunteer for between one and four weeks unpaid leave or unpaid work, with the pay deduction spread over three or six months.

The options also included switches to part-time working or longer periods of unpaid leave. Staff will have further opportunities to take part in the programme later in the year.

BA reported a £401m pre-tax loss in the year to the end of March from a record profit of £922m a year earlier.

Willie Walsh, who was paid £743,000 in the year to March, has said he will work for no pay during July.

Steve Turner, the Unite trade union national officer, told the FT that said less than 2 per cent of the entire workforce had volunteered to work for free. “While we support means to mitigate redundancy, workers were sent intimidating e-mails from senior managers, which we believe put pressure on staff to volunteer for one of the changes BA proposed – otherwise they would get a meeting with a manager,” he said.

“This bullying and constant harassment of our members is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”