Up to 400 British Airways senior cabin crew could find themselves unemployed, with the airline making people redundant to solve an “imbalance’ within its staff.

The airline is reportedly in talks with unions to offer voluntary redundancies to its senior employers working fewer shifts, in order to put more junior staff on more flights, Huffington Post UK reported.

Currently, British Airways has up to 14,000 cabin crew staff, but according to the carrier’s inflight experience head Bill Francis, during winter the airline is often left with a “growing imbalance” in its senior grades.

“I can confirm I’ve started a 90-day consultation period to address this,” Mr Francis said.

Last year British Airways settled a two-year dispute with its cabin crew union, which cost the airline up to £150 million.