Coronavirus: UK warns British Airways over aggressive job cuts

Bloomberg

The UK government warned British Airways (BA) it risks losing valuable airport landing slots after deciding to let go 12,000 staff while claiming government money to protect jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.
An aviation debate in parliament was dominated by concerns about the former flag-carrier’s plans to slash its workforce.
Transport Minister Kelly Tolhurst, responding to questions from lawmakers, agreed that BA had breached the public’s trust by instituting the job cuts while accepting state wage subsidies and said she’d consider asking the Civil Aviation Authority to seize airport slots if it doesn’t reverse the measures.
“Businesses get the benefit of being shareholders in the good times and must share the burden in the bad times,” Tolhurst said. “I’m quite willing to look at anything that could open up and increase the competition in our aviation sector.”
Like airlines worldwide, British Airways parent IAG SA is slashing costs to contend with an historic drop in travel due to the virus. Carriers in Europe have signalled plans to eliminate more than 50,000 positions since the onset of the crisis, including 10,000 at Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
Airlines that predominate in the busy London market — British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, EasyJet Plc and Dublin-based Ryanair Holdings Plc — account for almost half of the cutbacks, with BA’s the most aggressive.
Like other British companies, airlines have benefited from temporary furlough programs that subsidise salaries to help minimise job cuts. IAG has separately accessed $377 million from the Coronavirus Corporate Finance Facility.