BAE Systems is to axe 140 jobs at its Samlesbury site as the commercial aerospace business suffers from the terrorist assault on America.

Bosses are anticipating a fall in demand for airbuses following the September 11 attacks.

The job loses at the Samlesbury site, near Preston, are part of 1,669 others at the aerospace giant's other plants at Chadderton, Prestwick, Woodford and Filton. The Warton site, near Preston, is unaffected.

Ribble Valley and Fulwood MP Nigel Evans called on the company to find new roles to make use of the workers' skills.

And he said the news was deflating given the award of the joint strike fighter (JSF) contract to BAE last month, which aerospace bosses said secured thousands of jobs for decades.

But despite the cutbacks this week, BAE chief executive John Weston reiterated that the defence side of the company's business would enjoy a profitable future.

And he said that the Airbus project would still be lucrative at the scaled-down level. Airbus deliveries are expected to reduce from 320 to 300 next year.

The job losses at Samlesbury are due to this and will be in the assembly and programming departments. But many losses at the other sites are in the production of the regional jet programme, which is to be wound down.

Mr Weston said: "We have now completed a detailed assessment of the probable impact on our business of the recent severe downturn in the commercial aerospace market.

"Since September, the trading outlook has changed. In particular, profit expectations for Airbus next year have been reduced significantly and the outlook for regional aircraft has deteriorated sharply.

"While the impact of the changes in trading expectations for Airbus will postpone the company's return to growth, the core defence businesses are progressing well."

Mr Evans said: "This is a very disappointing move and I hope BAE will make use of the skills by transferring the workers on the airbus to other jobs on the JSF programme.

"We were told there will be so many jobs secured when this was awarded, and I hope the company will not resort to compulsory redundancies."