UK: 124,000 aviation jobs could go within months unless government provides support, says report

Up to 124,000 jobs in the UK’s aviation industry and its supply chains are at risk of disappearing in just three months because of the coronavirus, according to new research. Without government bailouts designed around protecting workers, a minimum of 70,000 jobs are likely to go, a report from the New Economics Foundation found. Of those, 39,000 are directly employed in aviation, with the remainder in the supply chain. The scale of job losses is on a par with the collapse of Britain’s coal industry in 1980-81, and the report’s authors warned that the true number is likely to be higher by the end of the financial year next April. The report, written jointly with the Trades Union Congress, aviation unions and climate action charity Possible, calls on the government to expand its existing coronavirus job retention scheme to include specific help for aviation industry workers. Proposals include retraining staff whose jobs are vulnerable, with some of the costs being covered by future taxes on the sector. To ensure the public gets a fair return for any taxpayer money invested, the NEF recommends that the government takes an equity stake in businesses that are bailed out, with conditions attached to limit executive pay and shareholder dividends while requiring investment in green technology and carbonisation.<br/>