Published on Thursday, June 11, 2020

Heathrow asks staff to take voluntary redundancy

Heathrow Airport has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme and warned it cannot rule out further job cuts.

Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: "Throughout this crisis we have tried to protect frontline jobs but this is no longer sustainable, and we have now agreed a voluntary severance scheme with our union partners.

"While we cannot rule out further job reductions, we will continue to explore options to minimise the number of job losses."

Heathrow, which has 7,000 directly employed staff has already cut a third of its managerial roles.

In total, 76,000 people are employed across 400 different companies at the airport.

British Airways, which operates the most flights to and from the airport, has already announced a plan to cut up to 12,000 jobs.

Last week, Holland-Kaye told the City AM podcast that cuts being made by airlines mean around 25,000 of these jobs could be at risk.

Last month, he warned social distancing at airports would not work and urged the Government to work on alternative proposals to re-boot the aviation industry.

In May, 228,000 passengers travelled through the airport, down 97% on the same month last year.

Year-on-year demand across the first five months of 2020 is now down 44%.

Heathrow said in a statement that the 'grim picture is set to continue' as the 14-day quarantine policy came into force on Monday.

It added: "Heathrow is urging the government to establish air bridges to low risk countries that will enable the country to restart its economy in earnest, protecting livelihoods in aviation and the sectors that rely on it."