British Airways to lay off 28,000 employees, 60% of its workforce

The United Kingdom's flagship airline British Airways (BA) will temporarily lay off 28,000 employees, which is a staggering 60% of its entire workforce, news agency PTI reported. The move comes amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis which is spreading like wildfire across the world and paralysing the airline sector, among several others.

The airline, which has grounded most of its fleet due to the coronavirus, has been locked in talks with unions for more than a week.

But on late Thursday night, the trade union 'Unite', which represents thousands of workers employed by BA, announced that it had "reached an agreement with the company" to use a version of the government's business support programme for around 28,000 of its staff, guaranteeing 80% of salaries to avoid redundancies.

However, there will be no cap on earnings -- set at GBP 2,500 (USD 3,100, 2,850 euros) per month under the government scheme -- no unpaid temporary layoffs and no redundancies during the crisis, the union stated.

"Given the incredibly difficult circumstances that the entire aviation sector is facing this is as good a deal as possible for our members," Unite national officer for aviation Oliver Richardson was quoted by PTI, "The deal protects the jobs of BA staff and, as far as possible, also protects their pay."

The deal will now be sent to Unite's members at British Airways for final approval.

Alex Cruz, the chief of British Airways explained the decision by saying that it is imperative that the airline acts now "to protect jobs and ensure that BA comes out the other side of this crisis in the best possible shape."

The decision will affect all staff at Gatwick and London City Airport after the airline suspended its operations at both locations until the crisis is over, a BBC report stated.

International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, had on Monday said it would slash the group's flight capacity by 75% during April and May owing to the coronavirus outbreak. The parent company is in a better financial position than some of its competitors, given that it has made some healthy profits in recent years.

It is likely that it is only a hint as to what is to come, given that it shows that the aviation sector has been hit by the COVID-19 crisis fairly hard. Global airlines have cancelled thousands of flights worldwide, as COVID-19 decimates demand for passenger travel, with destinations to China and Italy hit particularly hard.

(With PTI inputs)