British Airways pilots accept pay cuts of up to 20% and 270 job losses in deal with airline that also prevents controversial ‘fire and rehire’ scheme
- British Airline Pilots Association said its members voted by 85 per cent in favour
- There will be around 270 redundancies and temporary pay cuts starting at 20%
- Pay cuts will reduce to 8% over two years before falling to zero over longer term
British Airways pilots have voted to accept a package including job and pay cuts aimed at avoiding a larger number of redundancies, their union announced.
The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said there will be around 270 compulsory redundancies and temporary pay cuts starting at 20 per cent.
The pay cuts will reduce to 8 per cent over two years before falling to zero over the longer term. Balpa said its members voted by 85 per cent in favour.
Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton said: ‘Our members have made a pragmatic decision in the circumstances, but the fact that we were unable to persuade BA to avoid all compulsory redundancies is bitterly disappointing.’
British Airways pilots have voted to accept a package including 270 compulsory redundancies and temporary pay cuts starting at 20 per cent (file photo)
The union said the package it helped negotiate was in response to BA’s formal notification of 1,255 pilot job losses and the threat to fire and rehire the remaining pilots on worse conditions.
A BA spokesman said: ‘This is an incredibly difficult time for everyone at British Airways and we are grateful to Balpa and our flight operations team for the work they have done to reach this agreement and save hundreds of jobs.
‘Today’s financial results show the enormous challenge British Airways faces as it contends with the impact of the global pandemic and government travel bans, reducing demand for travel very significantly.
‘We do not expect our company to return to 2019 levels of business until at least 2023 and therefore we need to act now to reshape our company for a very different future.’
A BA spokesman said they do not expect their company to return to 2019 levels of business until at least 2023 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic (file photo)
It was reported yesterday that British Airways announced a £3.8billion loss during the pandemic.
The owner of the firm warned that passenger numbers will not recover until 2023 after plummeting by 93 per cent during the pandemic.
Parent company IAG said this is down from a £0.9billion profit in the same six month period a year ago. Revenue was £4.8billion some 56 per cent lower than the levels in 2019.
Half of British Airways’s 45,000 employees are currently on furlough.