British Airways could cut pilot headcount by a quarter

News of BA’s plans to reduce its pilot workforce come after parent IAG confirmed on Tuesday (28 April) that BA was set to embark on a restructuring and redundancy programme that could lead to up to 12,000 job losses across the business.

In the letter, BA says the impact of the coronavirus crisis "was like no other previous crisis we have gone through before".

It adds BA will also seek to change pilots’ conditions by introducing "flexibility into rostering, scheduling and the current operations environment".

BA is proposing a 45-day consultation on its plans, and says it has reached out to pilots union Balpa. Earlier this week, Balpa said IAG’s announcement came as a "bolt from the blue" and vowed to fight to save every single proposed job cut.

On Thursday, Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton added: "Balpa is fighting to save every pilot job at BA. The company has declined government support claiming it is financially secure enough to survive the coronavirus crisis, so it is hard to see how these cuts can be justified.

“There are many options to ensure BA can continue its business and survive coronavirus and Balpa does not accept that job losses are the only answer. Pilots want evidence that all options have been explored fully.”

BA declined to comment when approached by TTG beyond the initial restructuring announcement made by IAG on Tuesday, and chief executive Alex Cruz’s letter to staff, also published on Tuesday.