Testing regime ‘could have reduced’ Virgin Atlantic cuts

VIRGIN Atlantic’s job cuts could have been partially averted had a Covid testing regime been put in place earlier this year, according to the airline’s boss.

Shai Weiss took the “heartbreaking” decision to axe up to 1,150 extra jobs as Sir Richard Branson’s 36-year-old airline completed a £1.2bn rescue.

With more than 3,000 redundancies announced earlier in the year, the fresh wave of job cuts means almost half of the carrier’s pre-pandemic workforce will be axed. Boris Johnson is under growing pressure to implement a testing programme to ease the need for travel quarantines.

The airline’s chief executive said there had been a “massive effort” to get a scheme in place in recent months.

Mr Weiss said: “There is no doubt that if we had a summer where flying was possible between the US and UK… the need for this may have been significantly lower. If flying was free-flowing, we would probably have needed to reduce by less or not at all.”

Backing The Daily Telegraph’s Test4travel campaign, Mr Weiss called for “urgent” action by ministers.

“You can tell that we have Zoom and Teams. But no one said that when the email arrived, people would stop talking to each other. That has not hap- pened. Closing deals, innovation and sparking ideas require exchange of human capital.”

He warned the UK risked being left behind countries on the continent. “If we don’t move here, there are about 20 to 30 European nations that have already factored testing into some kind of regime,” he said. “If we don’t act, not only are we going to lose the leadership position that we have in airports and aviation, but the economic recovery of the UK requires open skies.”

Virgin Atlantic has now completed a radical restructuring designed to combat the fallout from the crisis.

The rescue, which includes a £170m loan from hedge fund Davidson Kempner, draws a line under months of uncertainty over the airline’s future after many market watchers predicted it was doomed. Sir Richard and minority shareholder Delta, the US airline, are to provide £600m of support.

Separately yesterday, influential investor advisers ISS called on shareholders in Ryanair to oppose a proposed €458,000 (£409,140) bonus for Michael O’leary, its boss, saying it was “hard to justify” given the aviation crisis. Ryanair declined to comment. The investor vote at this month’s meeting is non-binding.