Virgin Atlantic to cut 3,150 jobs

British airline to make drastic cut to staffing and end operations at Gatwick amid financial fallout from coronavirus pandemic
David Child5 May 2020

Virgin Atlantic has announced plans to cut 3,150 jobs at the airline amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the British airline also said it would keep its operation at Gatwick airport closed in response to the disruption unleashed by the crisis.

Virgin Atlantic has been headquartered at Gatwick for the past 35 years.

It pinned the moves on uncertainty over when flying will resume as well as “unprecedented market conditions” as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak which had “severely reduced revenues”.

Chief executive Shai Weiss said: “We have weathered many storms since our first flight 36 years ago, but none has been as devastating as Covid-19 and the associated loss of life and livelihood for so many.

“However, to safeguard our future and emerge a sustainably profitable business, now is the time for further action to reduce our costs, preserve cash and to protect as many jobs as possible.

“It is crucial that we return to profitability in 2021."

The airline, which currently employs about 10,000 people, is engaged in the process of applying for emergency loans from the Government.

Commenting on the developments, the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA) pointed to the "dire situation facing UK aviation".

"Without immediate action by the Government we will see the once world leading industry decimated and that will have an effect throughout the UK economy and to all the other industries that rely on aviation," the union said in a statement.

"Virgin for example applied for Government support weeks ago and Treasury is still prevaricating."

BALPA General Secretary Brian Strutton added: "Why is the Government sitting on its hands while aviation plunges further towards a death spiral?

"Government should call a moratorium on job losses in aviation and lead a planned recovery.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in