British Airways today ann-ounced that it is to pull out of Leeds-Bradford Airport, axing all six of its routes.

The struggling airline is scrapping its services to Dublin, Aberdeen, Bristol, Southamp-ton, the Isle of Man and Gatwick as part of a package of cost-cutting measures.

The news came as the airport celebrates the launch of its new low-cost airline Jet2, whose aircraft arrived at Leeds Bradford this week.

Councillor Sajawal Hussain, Bradford Council's member of the airport consultative committee, described the news as a "major blow" and said he feared job losses were "inevitable".

BA's services to Dublin and Bristol - the latter which only began in August - will end on January 5.

Humberside-based Eastern Airways will take over the flights to Southampton, the Isle of Man and Aberdeen. It is considering the future of the route to London Gatwick.

There are no plans to find another operator for the services that have been scrapped.

Councillor Hussain said it would be impossible to replace an airline of BA's reputation.

"It doesn't matter what replaces it, there is no match for BA. It was a very, very prestigious name to have flying out of Leeds Bradford, and it has a very loyal customer base," he said. "This is the worst thing that has happened to the airport for a long time and I would urge BA to reconsider. This is bad news for the whole area."

And Bradford Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton said the news was "clearly very disappointing".

"Losing a name such as British Airways and some of these routes is very bad news for the airport indeed," she said.

Ed Anderson, the airport's managing director, said BA's decision was "disappointing", but said he was pleased that Eastern had agreed to step in to operate three of the routes.

"The Dublin route is already extremely well served by Ryanair, which is increasing its number of services, and the Bristol route had been carrying a very small number of passengers," he said. "Of course, it is nice to have BA operating from Leeds Bradford but in terms of overall passenger numbers it is comparatively small, especially compared with the good news of the new lost cost airlines we have secured."

David Evans, British Airways' general manager for UK business, said the move was part of the firm's efficiency measures. "The proposed withdrawal of all services from Leeds Brad-ford has been a tough decision but it was crucial to underpin the rest of the operation as we move forward," he said.

A spokesman said the airline was scrapping all of its non-jet aircraft services, including the Jetstream 41s which flew out of Leeds Bradford. He said BA "could not justify" running the replacement 49-seat jet aircraft - the smallest available in its fleet - from the airport.