British Airways has cancelled hundreds of flights operated by BA Connect in anticipation of the acquisition of its ailing regional arm by rival Flybe.

The cancellations mainly affect services from Birmingham and Manchester but also include services from Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Key services hit include BA Connect flights from Birmingham to Frankfurt, Barcelona and Madrid and from Manchester to Berlin, Lyons, Madrid and Vienna. Click here for a full list of cancelled services

BA Connect has been losing its parent company millions of pounds a year. BA says the affected routes are “substantial loss makers” and that the flights need to be cancelled to “protect the ongoing viability of the business”.

Last year, Flybe announced a plan to acquire BA Connect, with British Airways taking a 15 per cent stake in exchange, and the deal was expected to be completed by the end of February.

However, the deal has still not gone through, although it is expected to do so in the next few days. There has been considerable disquiet among BA Connect pilots and many have decided to leave before the deal goes through.

Flybe is currently frantically trying to recruit pilots to take their place, taking out large adverts in the aviation trade press and offering packages of up to £90,000. Flight International has hinted that pensions, a hot potato for British Airways at the moment, might be at the centre of the ongoing negotiations.

Passengers on the affected services have four options:

* A full refund

* Book onto certain Flybe services that operate on the same routes, again for no charge.

* Rebook at no extra charge via BA’s mainline services through London

* Rebook via an alternative regional airport, where services exist, at an additional charge