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BA cabin staff face a potential whopping 55% cut to their salaries as coronavirus brings the airline industry to its knees. A letter received by staff yesterday outlines plans to slash cabin crew salaries to GBP24,000, while senior crew would have to downgrade to basic level pay. Most senior crew – customer service managers – are currently on around GBP35,000, while some crew leaders – customer service directors – can earn up to GBP80,000 per year. Unions are said to have threatened legal action and staff are planning on striking. Unite's assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said: “British Airways are cynically and opportunistically using the coronavirus pandemic to make swathes of workers redundant while simultaneously slashing the terms and conditions of the staff who remain. The cuts in pay are between 55% and 75% for thousands of crew. We believe that this is not only potentially unlawful, but a complete abuse of the government job retention scheme which was put in place to protect employees. This is a complete betrayal of workers who have dedicated their lives to making the company the success it is today, who have helped build the huge cash reserves that enable BA to weather the current aviation crisis caused by COVID-19.” Under the terms of the new offer, workers will receive commission from inflight sales and performance levels. They will also get a 5% “flew allowance” and benefits including dental, private health care, and up to 11% of company pension contributions.<br/>

LATAM Airlines said Friday it would lay off 1,400 employees in South America, blaming a drastic slump in business due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Despite all the efforts we have made to take care of jobs, we are forced to make this difficult decision," said Roberto Alvo, executive director of the Chilean-Brazilian carrier. "The effects of COVID-19 are profound and makes reducing the size of the LATAM group inevitable to protect its sustainability in the medium term," Alvo said. The jobs will be cut from operations in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, the carrier said. A merger of Chile's LAN and Brazil's TAM, the airline announced last month it was scaling back its operations by 95 percent in response to the global health crisis. LATAM normally flew to 145 destinations in 26 countries, with around 1,400 flights a day. Friday's redundancy plan is in addition to the voluntary retirement program announced last week by the group, which provides for the departure of another 800 people in the six countries where it operates.<br/>