BA landing slots under pressure over plans to reduce workforce

THE Government is facing fresh calls to strip British Airways of landing slots over its response to the pandemic.

More than 100 MPS are urging ministers to review the allocation of slots. BA has been criticised over plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs and push through changes to pay and conditions.

The Iag-owned airline has insisted that a radical restructuring is required, with demand for air travel not expected to recover for years.

From next year, Parliament will gain the power to set local criteria in return for slot allocation. Huw Merriman, chairman of the Commons transport committee, has branded BA a “national disgrace” for its handling of the crisis.

Sharon Graham of the Unite union said: “It is wrong for BA to continue to have privileged access to legacy landing slots while its workforce is sacrificed for the benefit of shareholders.”

A BA spokesman said: “We are acting now to protect as many jobs as possible. We call on Unite and GMB to consult with us on our proposals as Balpa, our pilot union, is doing.”

Meanwhile, sick days could be used as a factor when easyjet decides who to axe as part of a wave of redundancies in a move that unions called “outrageous”.

The airline will examine sickness records as part of a matrix that will also look at lateness and whether staff failed to show up for work, as it seeks to determine who to lay off to cut costs.

Balpa said the system was “unacceptable in a safety-critical industry where pilots are legally required not to go to work if they are unfit to do so”. The airline wants to sack more than 700 pilots as it reacts to the collapse in demand for air travel.

The law requires pilots to stay on the ground if they “know or suspect their physical or mental condition renders them temporarily or permanently unfit”. Pilots can be fined or even jailed for ignoring the rules.

Brian Strutton, Balpa general secretary, said: “It is unnecessary and wrong that easyjet is intending to use sickness as a stick to beat its safety-critical staff.”

An easyjet spokesman said: “We would never put forward proposals that would compromise safety as we have an industry-leading safety culture.” The airline is planning to lay off nearly a third of its 15,000 workers.

Meanwhile, the engineering firm Senior, which supplies components to Airbus and Boeing, cut 12pc of its workforce, or more than 600 positions, in the first half of the year. This followed 400 job losses announced in the autumn after Boeing halted production of the 737 Max following two fatal crashes.