LONDON (Bloomberg) — British Airways chief executive officer Willie Walsh may take part in cost-cutting talks with labour unions when discussions resume later this month.

Negotiations with the Unite union, representing 14,000 cabin crew, were suspended for a "cooling-off" period on July 23 and will involve more senior personnel when they resume, BA spokesman Tony Cane said. That may include direct discussions between Walsh and Tony Woodley, the union's general secretary.

British Airways is seeking to eliminate as many as 4,000 jobs in order to cut expenses and survive the recession. While the London-based carrier has agreed terms with pilots and engineers, months of negotiations have so far failed to produce an accord with cabin crew and ground staff.

"The end of the cooling-off period means that talks will resume at a more senior level at a time to be arranged," Cane said today. Talks may now be continued by Walsh and Unite's general secretary, or their designated representatives, he said.

British Airways called in the UK's state mediator to help broker negotiations after no deal was reached by a June 30 deadline the company had set. Negotiations may resume on or after August 18, according to Unite spokeswoman Pauline Doyle.

Unite contends that BA's plan to cut jobs and pay threatens its status as a first-rank carrier and may harm its chances of a successful merger with another airline. The union says the equivalent of thousands of jobs could be cut through part-time working, matching the savings sought by the airline.