Outsourcing would mean Capita would take over the handling of 9.5 million calls a year, including those from travel agents.

At risk are 750 BA staff in Newcastle and 350 jobs at Didsbury near Manchester. In a statement, Capita said it had “entered a period of exclusive engagement with British Airways to explore forming a potential partnership to support its global customer contact operations”.

BA said: “To ensure we can offer the highest standards of service to customers, taking advantage of the latest developments in technology, we are conducting a review of our global call centre operations.

“As part of this review we are talking with Capita about the services they provide. We are looking for the best option for our customers. No decision has been made.”

Capita also stressed that “no final decisions regarding the outcome of this engagement have been made”.

BA boss Alex Cruz is intent on cost-cutting at the airline, but may face a backlash if he tries to drive through outsourcing following the IT debacle a few weeks ago that saw hundreds of flights cancelled and 75,000 passengers stranded.

Cruz has also attracted criticism for removing free food and drink from short-haul flights, decreasing legroom and making some long-haul aircraft seating 10-abreast instead of nine across. Union GMB branded the airline ‘pennywise and pound-foolish’.