INDUSTRY in East Lancashire suffered a triple blow today as Airtours and BAe Systems announced huge job losses in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks.

Worst hit was BAe Samlesbury where 140 workers were told their jobs are to be axed as part of 1,700 jobs nationwide.

Airtours announced 1,200 losses although it was not clear how many jobs would go at its call centre in Accrington and former headquarters in Helmshore.

And 40 jobs will also go with the closure of a distribution centre owned by beds giant Silentnight on the Network 65 business park in Hapton.

The losses sent shockwaves throughout East Lancashire.

A BAe spokesman said it would now enter into a 90-day consultation period with the unions at Samlesbury but he said the company could not rule out compulsory redundancies.

The spokesman said the 140 workers at Samlesbury were engaged in the commercial aircraft manufacture for Boeing and on the Airbus.

He said: "We will be looking to mitigate the effects with redeployment and reskilling, but we cannot rule out compulsory redundancies.

"It's fair to say we had noticed a downturn in business before September 11, but clearly the terror attacks have made things worse."

BAe chief executive John Weston said the company had completed a detailed assessment of the likely impact on its business of the "severe downturn" in the commercial aerospace market. Since September the trading outlook in these markets has changed substantially."

Profit expectations for the Airbus, which BAE helps build, have been reduced significantly next year and the outlook for regional aircraft has "deteriorated sharply", said Mr Weston.

Tour operator Airtours said today it had cut 1,600 jobs to reduce costs in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The group said it had taken action to reduce capacity for future seasons - and had to make some "difficult decisions regarding redundancies throughout the group".

Airtours also said today it would rename itself MyTravel.

About 50% of the job losses will be in the US while 200 were in the UK and the rest in Europe.

This was in addition to 1,200 staff reductions made last year as a result of efficiency programmes and reorganisations.

The Helmshore and Accrington-based tour operator, travel agency and holiday airline firm employs 26,000 people worldwide and more than 1,000 local people, the majority of which are at its call centre at the Globe Centre in Accrington.

Staff turning up for work today said they were not surprised by the latest redundancies, the majority of which had been announced earlier in the year.

Airtours said the outlook for the industry was "uncertain and challenging," although it added the industry was a growth one and the firm was "well placed for future profitable growth."

Chairman David Crossland, who founded the firm in Burnley, said: "The Airtours name has served us well and will continue to do so as our largest tour operating brand, Airtours Holidays, but there are enormous benefits from aligning the plc name with our new distribution brand. By adopting that name we will be able to place it on each of the 115 million brochures we produce each year, on our 51 aircraft and in the 200 airports they pass through, on each of our 1,000 retail shops and on every single piece of stationery we use."

The new name will need to be approved by shareholders at the group's next annual general meeting. And 40 jobs will go at Cornwell Parker Eurohub building in Hapton. Beds giant Silentnight completed a £23 million takeover of Cornwell Parker, makers of the famous Parker Knoll brand furniture, in December.

Silentnight chief executive Bill Simpson said: "It is regret that we have advised it's employees at Eurohub that no buyer has been found and that no other use for the facility has been identified."