British airways has issued an HR-1 notice to staff, a UK regulatory requirement, to all areas of the airline warning them that there is a risk of redundancy according to an email to Unite Members.
In a statement by Unite it said that because British Airways had not specified a number in its HR-1 notice that meant the entire workforce of 30,000 had jobs at risk.
The move by British airways closely follows Virgin Atlantic’s announcement that it had cut its network by 80%, while requesting the UK aviation sector receives a £7.5 billion cash injection from the government.
Likewise low cost rivals Ryanair and EasyJet have announced they are grounding much of their fleet due to Covid 19, with the Irish carrier’s chief executive Michael O’Leary warning that a total grounding could follow. Fellow LCC Norwegian airlines has temporarily laid-off 7,500 staff while appealing for financial assistance.
Air France-KLM are also in talks with the respective French and Dutch governments over a financial support package for the group as the European Commission announced the temporary suspension of the trading bloc’s state aid rules in order to help the aviation – and other – sectors deal with economic fallout of Covid 19.