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BA has told its longest-serving cabin crew they will have to take a 20% basic pay cut and change working patterns if they are to be retained, as it prepares to lay off up to 30% of its workforce. The proposal comes almost two months after BA notified unions of plans to lay off 12,000 staff after coronavirus grounded almost all passenger flights. All cabin crew would have to apply for jobs in BA’s mixed fleet, a unit set up during a bitter strike a decade ago. Given that cabin crew salaries are largely made up of flight pay and allowances, many are likely to see their overall earnings reduced by much more than 20%. Talks are continuing with the pilots’ trade union Balpa over a voluntary redundancy deal. No offer has yet been put to ground staff. BA says no unions other than Balpa have turned up to talks, despite meetings scheduled almost daily since the airline announced plans to cut jobs and change contracts. MPs on the transport select committee described the UK’s flag carrier a national disgrace for considering moves to fire all staff and put up to 30,000 remaining employees on new contracts. A BA spokeswoman said: “We are acting now to protect as many jobs possible. The airline industry is facing the deepest structural change in its history, as well as facing a severely weakened global economy.”<br/>

Qantas CE Alan Joyce has called on the Morrison government to extend the JobKeeper program for industries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic after the airline announced it would sack 6000 workers and cut $15b in costs. Australia's largest airline Thursday said it would not resume any significant international flying for another 12 months, leaving it no choice but to make 20% of its workforce redundant. Another 15,000 of Qantas' 29,000 workers will remain stood down without pay until traveller demand recovers, with around 7500 not expected to return to work this year. "We have to position ourselves for several years where revenue will be much lower," Joyce said. "Adapting to this new reality means some very painful decisions." Unions representing Qantas workers blasted the airline for announcing the lay-offs before the federal government reviewed and possibly extended the JobKeeper wage subsidy for aviation workers. They also called on government to do more to help the industry during its greatest crisis in history. "Instead of cutting workers’ jobs and continuing stand-downs, Alan Joyce should redouble efforts to secure urgent government intervention," Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said. Joyce said he was having "constructive" discussions with the government about “JobKeeper or some alternative form of support” after the wage subsidy scheme ends in September.<br/>

Qantas CE Alan Joyce’s talk Thursday about “rightsizing” the airline put a brave and euphemistic face on the grim reality facing the entire industry. Stripped of its corporatese, Joyce’s statements painted a dark picture of aviation’s future: no international flights for a year, the biggest planes mothballed for three, thousands of jobs cut and tens of thousands more hanging in the balance if government support is withdrawn in September. Numbers released by Qantas as part of a $1.9b capital raising also show that the airline’s cash pile was dwindling by about $9.5m a day between late March and the end of May, as planes sat idle due to travel restrictions. That’s a little under $3.5b a year, although the cash burn rate should be lower once about 40% of Qantas’s domestic routes are once again operating, which the airline hopes will happen by the end of 2020. The capital raising will leave Qantas with about $3.6b in the bank, giving it a buffer of more than a year, even if lockdowns return and the burn rate returns to that peak. But, as Joyce explained, more problems loom in September. That’s when the government’s emergency jobkeeper program, which Qantas is relying on to help pay its 30,000-strong workforce (shortly to become 24,000), is due to expire.<br/>

With international travel almost decimated, and no prospects for a recovery any time soon, Qantas has decided it is time to send its long haul aircraft to the Californian desert, and its iconic 747s will be retired immediately. The carrier is grounding around 100 aircraft, or most of its international fleet, for at least 12 months as it faces up to an extended travel slowdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. While most of the group's long-haul aircraft are expected to steadily return to service over time, there is significant uncertainty as to when flying levels will support its 12 Airbus A380s, the world's largest passenger airliner. "The A380s have to remain on the ground for at least three years until we see those international volumes brought back," Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said Thursday. "The aircraft are being put in to the Mojave desert because its better for them to be sitting there. The environment protects the aircraft a lot more, and we have the intention, at the right time, to activate them." Qantas said these assets would be idle for the foreseeable future, which represents a significant portion of their remaining useful life. As a result, the carrying value of the A380 fleet, spare engines and spare parts will be written down, which will constitute the majority of the A$1.25b to $1.4b asset impairment charge in the FY20 result.<br/>

Royal Jordanian said it needs the government’s financial support to weather the coronavirus crisis, after losses surged more than fivefold in Q1. The airline posted a loss of 25.5m dinars ($36m) in Q1 compared with a loss of 5m dinars a year earlier, according to a statement on Thursday. Passenger numbers dropped 19%. The impact of the virus will be even bigger in Q2, said CEO Stefan Pichler.<br/>