British Airways said on Friday that it would cut an additional 1,200 jobs in the coming months, raising the number of planned staff reductions to nearly 5,000 as the British carrier wrestles with what its chief executive called the toughest year in the history of aviation. The announcement came as the airline said its net loss grew to a record 208 million pounds ($345 million) for the six months to Sept. 30, from 49 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue for the period -- which spans the peak summer travel season -- slid nearly 14 percent, to 4.1 billion pounds, as the carrier pared seat capacity by 3.5 percent and cargo sales plunged by almost a third. British Airways announced plans in July to shed 3,700 jobs in Britain by the end of March 2010 through voluntary buyouts and to move about 3,000 workers to part-time work. To date, about 1,900 of the positions have been eliminated, Cathy West, an airline spokeswoman, said. The additional 1,200 reductions revealed Friday would come from the carrier's overseas work force, she said. Taken together, the cuts represent about 13 percent of the British Airways current staff of 39,000. The new cuts come as the airline's unions are threatening job actions over changes to employees' contracts and a proposed two-year pay freeze. A British court ruled Thursday that the airline could move ahead with plans to reduce cabin crews on its long-haul flights, rejecting an injunction sought by Unite, a trade union that represents the carrier's 14,000 flight attendants. Results of a union vote on whether to authorize a strike are expected on Dec. 14. Unite representatives did not immediately return calls seeking comment. The International Air Transport Association estimates that the world's airlines will lose about $11 billion in 2009 as the global recession sharply reduces air traffic. Revenues from first- and business-class travel -- the mainstay of British Airways' business -- have been especially hard hit, with yields falling 18 percent in September from a year earlier. Yield represents the revenue per seat and distance traveled. 'This year is the most difficult year in the history of the airline industry,' the airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, told the BBC in an interview. 'We are facing what I believe is a structural change in the way that consumers behave, and so we have got to look at a structural response to that.' Walsh said talk of a strike by British Airways staff was 'absolutely premature' and noted that staff reductions had so far been achieved without any such action. 