British Airways to lay off a quarter of its pilots amid plans to make 12,000 workers redundant

British Airways has revealed further details of its plans to cut some 12,000 jobs
REUTERS

More than 1,000 British Airways pilots are set to lose their jobs as part of major redundancy plans announced by the airline, it is reported.

In a letter sent to the pilots’ union Balpa, seen by Sky News, BA said it intends to axe more than a quarter of its pilot workforce – meaning it will fire around 1,130 out of 4,346 such workers.

The cuts will be split evenly between co-pilots and captains, according to the news site.

It said the letter also detailed planned changes to working conditions for pilots and left open the possibility that all BA flights could be suspended from Heathrow airport.

The airline, which employs 42,000 people, has suffered from the global collapse in passenger numbers caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, its owner International Airlines Group (IAG) announced 12,000 planned job cuts as it revealed that revenues plunged 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2020.

In a statement, IAG said: “In light of the impact of Covid-19 on current operations and the expectation that the recovery of passenger demand to 2019 levels will take several years, British Airways is formally notifying its trade unions about a proposed restructuring and redundancy programme.

“The proposals remain subject to consultation but it is likely that they will affect most of British Airways’ employees and may result in the redundancy of up to 12,000 of them.

“As previously announced, British Airways has availed itself of the UK’s Covid-19 job retention scheme and furloughed 22,626 employees in April.”

In a letter to staff, BA chief executive Alex Cruz wrote: “In the last few weeks, the outlook for the aviation industry has worsened further and we must take action now.

“We are a strong, well-managed business that has faced into, and overcome, many crises in our hundred-year history.

“We must overcome this crisis ourselves, too.

“There is no Government bailout standing by for BA and we cannot expect the taxpayer to offset salaries indefinitely.”

Around 16,000 cabin crew work for BA, alongside the more than 4,300 pilots.

Unions have vowed to fight the plans amid anger at the “heartless decision”.

Officials said the move is “entirely at odds” with the course of action followed by other European carriers as they seek a way through the coronavirus crisis.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “This devastating announcement comes on the day that BA staff joined together to lay to rest one of their own, a long-standing and much-loved cabin crew member who tragically died from the coronavirus, contracted while carrying out his duties bringing home loved ones from overseas to reunite concerned families.

“This announcement will be felt as the stab in the back it undoubtedly is by the close-knit BA family.

“We say to BA’s boss Alex Cruz that this is a heartless decision in a time of national crisis.

“With the majority of BA’s workers on furlough, we would have expected him to work with both us and the Government to honour the spirit of the Government’s job retention scheme.

“Governments across Europe, in Spain, Germany and France, are working with trade unions and airlines to rebuild the industry, keeping people in work while the sector recovers.

“To reject Government support but then expect their own staff to pay the cost of such a misjudgment is irresponsible, dangerous and destructive and is utterly at odds with the mood of the country at a time of crisis.

“This workforce has worked tirelessly, heroically and unnoticed throughout this crisis, in dangerous circumstances on the global transport front line.

“They simply do not deserve to be treated as a commodity to be disposed of in this way.

“Unite values their sacrifice, as do the families that they have brought together, and can be assured that their union will not tolerate this indecent mistreatment of these brave men and women.”

GMB national officer Nadine Houghton said: “We believed we had reached some relative, albeit temporary, respite for our members following the agreement to furlough 80 per cent of BA’s staff.

“I know our reps will work day and night to limit the impact on our members but 12,000 employees is a staggering number.

“All our efforts will be put into bringing that number down.”

Brian Strutton, general secretary of pilots’ union Balpa, said staff are “devastated” by the announcement, adding: “This has come as a bolt out of the blue from an airline that said it was wealthy enough to weather the Covid-19 storm and declined any Government support.

“Balpa does not accept that a case has been made for these job losses and we will be fighting to save every single one.”

Downing Street said it is “very distressing news” for those being laid off.

Asked whether Boris Johnson is disappointed the airline has gone down the route of redundancies, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We obviously made the furlough scheme available and that has had significant uptake from industry, but it’s a decision for BA.

“We do recognise that it will be very distressing news for BA employees and their families, we stand ready to support them at this difficult time.”

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: “The Government should have stepped in sooner and done more to protect their jobs.

“The aviation industry is critical to the UK economy but workers should not be being laid off by those at the top who have reaped the rewards from their hard work.”

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