Edinburgh Airport to slash third of workers

A third of the workforce at Edinburgh Airport is to be made redundant.

Some 250 workers from the 750 directly employed by the airport will lose their jobs, with the impact of the pandemic on the aviation industry being blamed for the cuts.

All areas of the business are affected, including frontline staff, management and support.

Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said it is a “bitterly sad day”, as he revealed the airport is losing £3.5 million a month despite government support schemes.

He said job losses are “unavoidable” but claimed the situation has been made worse by “an ill-thought out and unworkable blanket quarantine policy”.

Yesterday the airport said the redundancy process will begin immediately and includes compulsory and voluntary reductions.

Redundancy letters will be issued from Saturday notifying workers to leave on October 31.

Airport bosses said more than 90% of people who took part in a ballot consulting staff and unions on the redundancy terms supported them.

Mr Dewar said: “This is a bitterly sad day for the airport and for those colleagues who are losing their jobs through no fault of their own but due to the impact of this dreadful pandemic.

“We have worked with unions and staff over the past four months to protect as many jobs as possible but unfortunately we have to confirm this regrettable news as the business prepares for whatever comes next.

“Last year we welcomed a record 14.7 million people through our doors. This year we will be lucky to see a third of that and next year won’t be anywhere near where we have previously estimated, so the business has to be the right size to be in a position to survive and recover when it can.

“The furlough scheme has undoubtedly helped us to retain jobs.

“Despite this, we continued to burn around £3.5 million a month as passenger numbers dropped dramatically and airlines drastically scaled back operations. It will be a very long road to recovery, and we cannot successfully make that journey while we are set up as a 15 million passenger airport.”