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BA employs approximately 45,000 employees and has more than half of these on leave. Earlier this year, he said he planned to cut up to 12,000 jobs, and the airline faces the threat of a strike by staff whose jobs are under threat.
However, Mr. Walsh suggested that the job cuts may not be as abrupt as indicated above. He told the BBC: “We are in consultation with the unions. We want them to work with us to try to mitigate the measures we have to take.
“That 12,000 figure is the maximum that would be required, I hope it will be significantly less than that.”
Walsh said: “The industry will recover from this crisis, although we do not expect this to occur before 2023, and IAG will have an opportunity to capitalize on its strength and leadership positions.”
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EPA
He added that the business had begun to recover as the orientation to travel abroad was loosened: “We have seen evidence that demand is recovering when government restrictions are lifted.”
But he said the industry would never be the same again: “Anyone who believes that this is only a temporary recession and therefore can be dealt with by temporary measures, I’m afraid I misjudge what the industry is going through.”
“This will represent a structurally changed industry and that is why we have taken the steps that we have taken and that is why we believe that now is the right time to raise additional capital.”
Willie Walsh calls this by far the biggest crisis the aviation industry has faced, and the numbers are certainly astonishing.
If the planes cannot fly, the airlines have no way of making money, but they still have to deal with high costs. That is why IAG has lost billions in the past few months.
It is also the reason why IAG and other carriers are desperate for governments to find ways to allow as many people to travel as possible without the need to quarantine later. They need traffic to recover.
IAG also has other problems to deal with. Walsh says the company has no choice but to cut thousands of BA jobs and pay many of those who remain far less.
But the company’s focus has alienated a large part of the workforce and caused a deep gap between staff and management.
Now you are faced with the possibility of industrial action, at a time when you really need to attract customers, who may already be nervous about traveling.
‘Disappointed’
Walsh said clients with pre-existing reservations continued to fly to and from Spain, despite the government’s change to guidance advising against nonessential travel to the country and the re-imposition of quarantine for returnees.
Some IAG airline passengers are still seeking refunds for canceled flights.
A review by the Civil Aviation Authority of airlines’ performance on refunds said Thursday that test calls to BA ended after a recorded message had been played.
Mr Walsh told the BBC: “It is important for us to recognize that we have disappointed people. We have not been able to repay people as quickly as we would like.”
He said the company had paid £ 1.1 billion in rebates and that its goal was to speed up the refund process so that people would receive the rebates within seven days of the request. But he said it was a complex process, and much of this had to be done manually.
Julie Palmer, a partner at Begbies Traynor, said the results showed the magnitude of the challenge for IAG: “While the uncertainty continues, IAG will have to make more difficult decisions and it would not be a surprise if the cut of 12,000 BA employees were just the Start.
“With mixed messages on international travel, it will be difficult to convince most to start traveling again soon. For now, IAG needs to weather the storm and expect clearer skies if it is to have any chance of recovery.”
