Plans To Idle 500 Workers In Second Workforce Reduction This Year

UK budget carrier Flybe has announced that it will cut 500 workers from its payroll and reduce the number of routes it flies in an effort to shore up its bottom line.

The move is the second mass layoff by the carrier this year. Some 300 workers were let go in January.

Buying Business Travel reports that the move comes even with the airline showing increases in revenue and profit in its first half financial report for 2013. But eliminating the "redundancies" will save the airline about $11 million this year, and as much as $41 million in 2014, according to the company.

Chief executive Saad Hammad said that cutting that number of employees will mean a reduction in the routes Flybe is able to fly. The CEO, who came to the airline just three months ago, said that it will cut all of its routes to Gatwick in March 2014, selling them to Easyjet for about $31 million.

Flybe pilots have reacted with shock to the announcement of significant job losses at the company and have stressed the national importance of a regional airline to ensure growth and prosperity outside of London.
 
The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA), which represents Flybe pilots, said in a news release that it has committed to working with the company to ensure that as many of the redundancies as possible are voluntary and to support pilots through this difficult process.

BALPA has also called on the Government to play its part by reducing the damaging impact of Air Passenger Duty on the essential piece of national transport infrastructure provided by the airline.
 
"This is a distressing day for the dedicated pilots who loyally serve Flybe and its passengers day-in day-out and we will be supporting them throughout this difficult redundancy process," Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of BALPA, said in a statement posted on the BALPA website. "Pilots are working with Flybe to secure the future of the airline, which is vital to connecting the country and driving growth and prosperity outside of London. The Government should play its part by reducing the damaging impact of Air Passenger Duty on this essential piece of transport infrastructure.”
 
Meetings with the company are planned this week at which the details of the 500 redundancies will be announced. As the recognized representative of Flybe’s 600 pilots, BALPA will be scrutinizing and testing the company plans to make sure they stack up and that the management structure that got the airline into this situation is cleaned up from top to bottom.
 
BALPA says it has already supported the company through previous restructuring, most recently agreeing to a cut in paid hours to preserve jobs while providing the flexibility to snap back to full time when the economy picked up.
 
“We will continue to look for ways to preserve jobs but the scale of today’s announcement makes the prospect of compulsory redundancy look very real and we will ensure the  process is transparent, proper and fair with the maximum number of opportunities for pilots to opt for redundancy voluntarily,” the statement said. “Through our support network BALPA will also offers its members a range of services including career advice as well as advance notice of recruitment opportunities in other airlines.”

FMI: www.flybe.com, www.balpa.org