British Airways will reportedly suspend all flights from the UK's second-biggest airport and furlough "many more" staff as new lockdown measures take effect.

The airline, which said the restrictions were a "blow to our hopes for the winter season", will ground more aircraft and suspend all flights from Gatwick airport, it has bene reported.

In a letter seen by Sky News, BA management will reduce operating for the rest of November.

The carrier said: "We have made the difficult decision to further reduce our operation for the rest of November.

"This means far fewer flights than we hoped for in November and means grounding more of our aircraft, including pausing all flights from Gatwick until December."

The Argus: : Gatwick Airport, near Crawley.

The airline said the shut down would mean "moving many more colleagues, from both operational and support function areas on to the governments extended Job Retention Scheme".

It comes as Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the extension of the furlough scheme until the end of March.

The letter seen by Sky News said British Airways will continue flights to repatriate customers overseas and for the movement of essential cargo.