British Airways may cut up to 12,000 jobs amid coronavirus

(Business Traveller) — British Airways has begun notifying trade unions about a proposed restructuring and redundancy programme which could see up to 12,000 staff made redundant.

The carrier’s owner International Airlines Group (IAG) said that the move was being made “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”.

Earlier this month British Airways placed over 22,000 employees on the UK government’s coronavirus job retention scheme, but in a letter to staff, CEO Alex Cruz said that “we cannot expect the taxpayer to offset salaries indefinitely”.

“We do not know when countries will reopen their borders or when the lock-downs will lift, and so we have to re-imagine and reshape our airline and create a new future for our people, our customers and the destinations we serve,” said Cruz.

The Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis for the world. We continue to fly you, our customers, and vital supplies across the world. More information on what we’ve announced visit: https://t.co/tzNSQfIpaM?

— British Airways (@British_Airways) April 28, 2020

“We have informed the Government and the Trade Unions of our proposals to consult over a number of changes, including possible reductions in headcount. We will begin a period of consultation, during which we will work with the Trade Unions to protect as many jobs as possible. Your views matter and we will listen to all practical proposals.

“The scale of this challenge requires substantial change so we are in a competitive and resilient position, not just to address the immediate COVID-19 pandemic, but also to withstand any longer-term reductions in customer demand, economic shocks or other events that could affect us. However challenging this is, the longer we delay difficult decisions, the fewer options will be open to us.”

Cruz said that on a normal day BA would be operating over 300 flights from Heathrow but that yesterday it was “just a handful”, adding that “What we are facing as an airline, like so many other businesses up and down the country, is that there is no ‘normal’ any longer”.

The letter (which can be seen in full below) was sent out as IAG announced its preliminary results for the first quarter of 2020, with total revenue declining 13 per cent to €4.6 billion.

The group said that its operating results in the first two months of 2020 was similar to that of last year, despite the suspension of flights to China due to COVID-19 from the end of January, adding that “All of the reduction in the operating result in the quarter compared to last year came in March”, with British Airways accounting for the majority of the reduction, followed by Iberia and Aer Lingus.

Pre-tax profit was impacted by an exceptional charge of €1.3 billion relating to fuel and foreign currency hedges for the rest of 2020.

Passenger capacity across the group has been reduced by 94 per cent during April and May compared to last year, although cargo business has seen an uptick, with IAG Cargo undertaking around 350 additional cargo only flights between March 22 and April 26, “primarily on long-haul routes with passenger widebody aircraft”.

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