British Airways is to put thousands of its staff on full-time furlough and thousands more on reduced hours — what it is calling “flexi-furlough” — in the latest setback in the opening up of aviation markets. BA staff were briefed on the plans today, just hours after Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was lobbied by British airlines to extend his furlough support for the crippled sector beyond the planned September cut-off date. SponsoredThe decision to send many of its 30,000-strong workforce home indefinitely from Monday follows the airline’s decision to axe 10,000 workers last year during the height of the pandemic. It is understood that the final straw for the airline was the government’s decision to take Portugal off the green list of unrestricted air travel.

Source: The Times June 10, 2021 16:52 UTC