Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic Airways, has stated that although he sympathizes with its pilots’ calls for pay increases, he has to hold firm to his original offer for the airline to remain competitive.
Virgin has offered pilots a 4% increase this year, 3% next year and the same in 2013. However pilots say they want more and are voting now to decide whether to take strike action. The pilots agreed to a pay freeze during the two years since 2008, ostensibly with the expectation they would be rewarded when the economy recovered. With living costs increasing, pilots say they are justified to expect a greater pay rise.
Ridgway is quoted as saying that he “wants to give pay increases. Life is more expensive with costs rising,” and that “two years without a pay rise is a long time". But, he said: “we need to look at the business and what we can afford.