EURO MP Richard Howitt met with union representatives and management at an aircraft maintainance firm facing major job losses.

Mr Howitt was asked to intervene by the Transport and General Workers Union when it became clear that airline engineering and servicing support firm FLS Aerospace was to shed as many as 50 jobs at its Stansted centre, following the September 11 terrorist attacks on America.

He said: "I appreciate the airline industry has suffered a downturn since last year's terrible events. However in the long term this is an essential industry that will grow. The future does look very positive for Stansted Airport and it would be very unfortunate if jobs were lost over what may be a short term problem.

"I understand the company intended to take similar aciton at its Manchester base, however at risk notices have been suspended there while talks take place. We need to see what can be achieved at Stansted."

The company declined to comment on the meeting but reissued a statement originally made last November which said: "The restructuring will impact up to 900 jobs across the group.

"In Stansted, some jobs will be lost in group areas but there will be no significant impact in Aircraft Overhaul. FLSA will endeavour to achieve the job losses through natural attrition, redeployments, early retirements, voluntary redundancies and if necessary compulsory redundancies."