British Airways plans to embark on its first IT staff recruitment drive in four years, marking an end to an era of job losses and cut backs at the airline.

It intends to create 40 new technology positions, ranging from project managers through to technology specialists, who will work on developing new parts of its customer enabled project (ceBA), including self-service kiosks and electronic ticketing.

Earlier this year, British Airways' chief information officer Paul Coby told Computing that technology would play a key role in pulling the company out of the current airline industry slump by simplifying business processes and improving customer service.

'This is the first recruitment drive in four years which reflects the difficult times BA and the aviation industry has experienced,' said Coby. 'During that four years, we made significant changes to our business and IT has been one of the driving factors behind the recent turnaround in BA's fortunes.'

BA plans to deploy e-ticketing across 100 per cent of its operations by the end of the financial year and is exploring other technologies like barcoded boarding passes and RFID tagged baggage tags.

Coby said: 'We have now arrived at point where in order for the airline to take these changes further forward, we are looking for people with energy, drive and ambition to help us deliver innovation across the airline.'