COVID-19: British Airways lays off 36,000 employees

British Airways is set to release no fewer than 36,000 staff, from cabin crew to ground staff, engineers and head office employees, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The aviation industry has been hit hard by the travel restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus crisis.

Thousands of staff have been temporarily laid off or are taking unpaid leave.

BA, which grounded its planes at Gatwick this week, has been negotiating with the Unite union for more than a week.

The two sides have reached a broad agreement but still need to hammer out some details. A BA spokesperson said: “Talks continue.”

Under the agreement, up to 80% of BA’s 45,000 employees will have their jobs suspended, but it is thought that there will be no redundancies.

At Gatwick and London City airport, all BA staff will be suspended after the airline stopped flying to and from both airports until the end of the virus crisis. It is still running services at Heathrow.

A spokesperson for the union said: “Unite has been working around the clock to protect thousands of jobs and to ensure the UK comes out of this unprecedented crisis with a viable aviation sector.

“Talks with British Airways are ongoing, and Unite’s priority is always to communicate with our members, who are very anxious at this time but who understand the work that Unite is doing to protect jobs, incomes and futures.”

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