British Airways to cut up to 12,000 jobs as air travel collapses

British Airways is set to cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 42,000-strong workforce due to a collapse in business because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline’s parent company, IAG, said it needed to impose a “restructuring and redundancy programme” until demand for air travel returns to 2019 levels.The pilots’ union Balpa said it was “devastated” at the news and vowed to fight “every single” job cut. IAG also owns Spanish airline Iberia and Ireland’s Aer Lingus.

In a statement, IAG said: “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.” The company said it will take several years for air travel to return to pre-virus levels, a warning that has been echoed by airlines across the world. Alongside IAG’s statement, BA chief executive Alex Cruz wrote in a letter to staff: “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.

About 4,500 pilots and 16,000 cabin crew work for BA, which has already put almost 23,000 staff on furlough. Balpa’s general secretary Brian Strutton said: “This has come as a bolt out of the blue from an airline that said it was wealthy enough to weather the Covid 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.”

The airline can survive on its financial reserves for the moment – and take advantage of the government’s job retention scheme to furlough employees for a short period. Government support of this kind is very short term. With a quick recovery it might be enough to save a large number of jobs. IAG has now made it clear it’s expecting the industry to look very different in future to what was the norm until just a few weeks ago, and is taking action accordingly. But unions will disagree, and the company may find itself accused of over-reacting – or even of taking advantage of the crisis in order to reduce its cost base.

Source: BBC