BA's chief executive warns of vast job loses

News at Heathrow 09/06/2009

British Airways cuts business fares : 2009 : BA staff asked to accept cost saving measures

Unions warn of strikes if loses go ahead

The Chief Executive of BA, Willie Walsh, said that holiday makers jetting off this summer could face strikes of British Airways loses its fight with the unions over proposed job cuts.

Mr Walsh would like to lose 4,000 staff by the end of June in a move he feels will go some way to combat the loses suffered by the Airline due to both higher fuel prices and a drastic fall in customers flying with BA.

There will be a weeks worth of meetings held with leaders of the main BA unions and management to sort the problems out. Mr Walsh has said during an aviation industry meeting in Kuala Lumpur recently “I think we are in the middle of the storm at the moment, last year we were going into it”. He added “The next four weeks are vital for the future of our business, we are very clear that we are now in a fight for our very survival and time is running out”.

The international Air Transport Association (IATA) have predicted that airlines were due to lose a total £5.6billion compared with a figure in 2008 of £2.9billion.

BA is currently trying to agree a package of cutbacks within its current workforce and there are options that could include closing its final salary pension scheme, much in line with other large organisations at the moment who are also feeling the pinch. BA has around 40,000 staff which includes 14,000 cabin crew. The unions say they will fight any staff cuts and this could cause strikes. Last month the airline posted a record loss of £401million.

British Airways cuts business fares : 2009 : BA staff asked to accept cost saving measures

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