British Air Proposes Pay Cut for Attendants to Limit Job Losses

(Bloomberg) -- British Airways proposed a pay deal for its flight attendants that would guarantee 80% of current basic salaries while limiting the need for mass job cuts amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The carrier would also reduce expenses by targeting the variable allowance component of cabin-crew pay, according to a letter to staff seen by Bloomberg News. The company said the offer was competitive in a “very different” airline industry while also being sustainable in the long term.

The U.K. unit of IAG SA has been under fire from unions and members of Parliament over plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 30% of its staff. The U.K.’s Transport Committee accused the airline of using the crisis as an excuse to shed workers even as the government pays employee wages through a national furlough program. That drew a swift response from IAG Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh, who said, “British Airways is fighting for its survival.”

Like its peers, IAG has been ravaged by the effective shutdown of air travel brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, which is expected to result in $84 billion of losses for global airlines in 2020.

In the letter to employees, the airline said the offer to flight attendants “provides a ‘soft landing’ into a new aviation industry” in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

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