British Airways is expected to announce it will suspend around 36,000 staff. The airline, which grounded much of its fleet due to the coronavirus crisis, has been negotiating with the Unite union for more than a week. The two sides have reached a broad deal but are yet to sign on some details. The agreement means that up to 80% of BA cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and those working at head office will have their jobs suspended but no staff are expected to be made redundant. The decision will affect all staff at Gatwick and London City Airport after the airline suspended its operations at both locations until the crisis is over. Those affected are expected to receive some of their wages through the government's coronavirus job retention scheme, which covers 80% of someone's salary capped at a maximum of GBP2,500 a month. It is thought that the Unite union has been pushing for staff to be paid more than that. BA has already reached a separate deal with its pilots who will take a 50% pay cut over two months. BA's parent company, IAG, is in a better financial position than some of its competitors. The group has made healthy profits in recent years.<br/>
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American Airlines Group botched its offer of paid time off to some pilots, forcing the carrier to pull back offers for 1,200 slots and award short-term voluntary leave to just 600 of them. One hundred pilots of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 narrow-body jets can start leave Wednesday, the airline said by email to the crew members. Another 500 can begin their time off April 6. The carrier discovered the error Tuesday, the deadline for pilots to bid on the leaves, which give them partial salary. “The processing of this award has certainly created uncertainty and confusion,” Chip Long, managing director of flight line operations, said in the memo. Temporary time off will be awarded to additional pilots in May. American has offered leaves across its workforce to reduce costs while slashing its global schedule amid the collapse in demand caused by the new coronavirus. American separately offered time off to 836 pilots flying its largest aircraft, the majority of which are temporarily grounded as nearly all international flights have been suspended. Those leaves, along with 38 for aviators assigned to Embraer SA E190s, also take effect Wednesday. The E190s are set to be retired early. “Over the past few days, we have added to the stress and uncertainty in finalizing the voluntary leave of absence awards,” Kimball Stone, senior VP of American’s flight and integrated operations center, said in an earlier email advising pilots of the mistaken offer.<br/>
Qatar Airways is suspending flights to New York and the Spanish cities Madrid and Barcelona, but vows to reinstate them “in line with a return to regular conditions”. The carrier says it “continues to temporarily hold flights to severely affected countries due to entry restrictions implemented by many governments to prevent the spread of coronavirus”. The airline is pausing operations to New York JFK as of today, Madrid Barajas from 4 April and Barcelona El Prat from 5 April. Amid a widespread industry shutdown, Qatar Airways has shown resistance to axing services, even increasing its capacity to some destinations. It says today it is “working with governments around the world to maintain a strong schedule of flights, and organising charter flights where needed”. A series of measures have been put in place to reduce the risk of transmitting the coronavirus on Qatar Airways flights, including staff training, the thermal screening of crew on departure and arrival, and the use of quarantine. “As the current pandemic has escalated, cabin crew have been authorised to wear surgical masks and disposable gloves,” says the carrier. It has also amended the distribution of its cabin crew on flights to minimise the risk of them catching or transmitting the disease.<br/>
The NSW workplace safety authority is investigating Qantas for suspending an employee who raised concerns about workers being exposed to the coronavirus when cleaning an aircraft that had returned from China. Qantas stood down the cleaner, who is an elected health and safety representative, on February 2 after he advised colleagues it was unsafe to clean the jet arriving from Shanghai. The airline said this was "against the advice of health authorities and despite additional safety equipment being provided to employees". SafeWork NSW confirmed on Thursday it was investigating Qantas for alleged discriminatory conduct against the health and safety representative. The regulator has written to the airline to inform it the investigation is underway. The Transport Workers Union says the worker was vindicated three weeks after being stood down when SafeWork NSW issued Qantas with an improvement notice after finding it had inadequate practices in place to protect staff and passengers from coronavirus. Safety inspectors saw Qantas cleaners wiping over multiple tray tables with the same cloth without using disinfectant, and handling used tissues, face masks and nappies without having to wear protective equipment. A Qantas spokesman said the airline would cooperate with the investigation.<br/>