Skift Take

Unite has had a lot of run-ins with the airline recently. In the past. it's often held the upper ground, but this time round things are different and staff will have some tough calls to make that will determine how BA emerges from the crisis.

British Airways is in talks with its union about a plan to suspend around 32,000 staff so it can survive the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the situation said.

The British flag carrier has massively reduced flights and warned it will need to slash costs if it is to survive an emergency that has battered the global aviation industry.

“The deal is not done yet,” the source said, adding that the talks were focusing on around 80 percent of the workforce excluding pilots.

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Owned by IAG, BA has already suspended flights from Britain’s second busiest airport, Gatwick, and London’s City Airport. Its parent company has said flying capacity would be down 75 percent in April and May.

It has been in talks with the Unite union for a week to agree a plan that will enable it to suspend staff including cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and those in head office without having to make them redundant.

It has already agreed new terms with its pilots where they will take two weeks’ unpaid leave in April and May.

With planes unable to fly because of travel restrictions, compounded by a plunge in demand over fears of contagion, airlines worldwide have grounded most of their fleets, and many have said they need government support to survive.

Data firm OAG said the aviation industry was less than half the size it was in mid-January, just before countries started confirming coronavirus cases outside China.

Britain has launched a job retention scheme which covers 80 percent of someone’s salary capped at a maximum of £2,500 a month but rival Virgin Atlantic has said it will need additional financial help to avoid going bust.

Rival airline easyJet said on Monday that it had grounded its entire fleet.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and James Davey)

This article was written by Kate Holton from Reuters and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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Tags: airlines, british airways, coronavirus

Photo credit: British Airways hub at Zürich Airport, Switzerland: The airline wants to make mass suspensions to survive the crises. Unsplash

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