BA is to suspend more than 30,000 staff, from cabin crew to ground staff, engineers and head office employees, until the end of May under the government furlough scheme for companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile Heathrow has announced it will shut down one of its two runways from Monday due to the reduction in flights. A spokesperson for the UK’s biggest airport said: “Although we are seeing significantly fewer flights at the moment, Heathrow will remain open so that we can continue to play a crucial role in helping to secure vital medical goods and food for the nation during this unprecedented epidemic.” BA, which grounded all its planes at Gatwick this week, said all suspended employees would be paid 80% of their salary under the terms of the state scheme, which caps the payout at up to GBP2,500 per month. It has now reached deals with all three unions that represent its staff – Unite, GMB and the British Airline Pilots’ Association. The carrier is also encouraging its staff to join volunteering schemes. At Gatwick and London City airport, all BA staff will be suspended after the airline stopped flying to and from both airports until the end of the virus crisis. It is still running short-haul and long-haul flights at Heathrow. BA employs 45,000 people in total, and has struck a separate deal with its 4,000 pilots, who will take four weeks’ unpaid leave between April and May.<br/>
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American Airlines said Thursday it is cutting additional flights this summer as travel demand has drastically shrunk amid the coronavirus pandemic. Vasu Raja, American Airlines' senior VP of Network Strategy, said that the airline is cutting between 70 and 75% of flights in April and about 80% of flights in May. For this month and May it is cutting nearly 90% of its international flights. Raja said domestic demand will remain weak into May, citing of the lack of bookings. Still, the largest US airline has no plans to halt US flights entirely, noting medical workers and others who must travel, sometimes for urgent medical reasons. "We are making no plans for the cessation of flying," Raja said. "The important thing is to provide a minimum level of essential service to customers ... but we do it in such a way where we don't burn an excessive amount of cash." American also disclosed on Thursday that it will cancel more than 60% of its total international flights this summer, including an 80% reduction in Pacific capacity, a 65% reduction in Atlantic and 48% reduction in Latin America. American is also delaying the launch of new international routes until 2021, delaying the launch of new winter seasonal service and suspending 25 summer seasonal flights.<br/>
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways will make further cuts to passenger capacity because of extremely low demand, leaving it with just two flights a week each to four long-haul destinations in April, according to an internal memo. The airline carried only 582 passengers one day this week with a load factor of 18.3%, which compares to 100,000 customers on a normal day, Cathay chief executive Augustus Tang said in a memo to staff. The carrier will maintain a skeleton long-haul network with two weekly passenger flights from Hong Kong to London, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Sydney, while hoping to keep three weekly regional flights to major destinations around Asia such as Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo. It will also try to capitalise on stronger cargo demand, the memo said. "However, the reduction of capacity on our wide body fleet means our cargo revenues are still well below last year," Tang said. Most Cathay employees already agreed to take three weeks of unpaid leave as part of an effort to cut costs.<br/>
IAG is withdrawing its proposal to pay a E0.17-per-share final dividend to investors, following the coronavirus shutdown. The group will instead propose, at its annual shareholders’ meeting, that all of its 2019 profit – save that already paid as an interim dividend – be added to voluntary reserves. IAG‘s board is also delaying the shareholders’ meeting from June until the end of September. IAG is cutting capacity by 75% in April and May, and BA has suspended flights at both London Gatwick and London City airports.<br/>