Virgin Atlantic cuts over 3,000 jobs

LONDON: Virgin Atlantic will cut over 3,000 jobs -- around a third of staff -- as the coronavirus pandemic grounds planes worldwide, the British carrier part-owned by tycoon Richard Branson announced on Tuesday.

It comes one week after British Airways announced plans to slash up to 12,000 jobs because of the Covid-19 fallout. With the virus having decimated international air travel -- Ryanair on Friday said it would axe 3,000 jobs -- Virgin said it was obliged to make its own cuts to preserve its financial future, adding it was in talks with the UK government about potential support.

Virgin Atlantic said in a statement that "for the airline to emerge from the crisis, regrettably it must reduce the number of people employed and today the company is announcing a planned reduction of 3,150 jobs across all functions". Chief executive Shai Weiss said it was "crucial" the airline returned to profit in 2021.

"After 9/11 and the global financial crisis, we took similar painful measures but fortunately many members of our team were back flying with us within a couple of years. "Depending on how long the pandemic lasts and the period of time our planes are grounded for, hopefully the same will happen this time," he added.