BRITISH AIRWAYS STAFF HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE CARRIER  FACES A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
AS AIRLINES BECOME ENGULFED BY GLOBAL ECONOMIC RECESSION
Circulated by Caribbean Tourism Organization

June 16, 2009 -- The stark warning has been given to all 40,000 employees across the world both in an email by Willie Walsh, the airline's chief executive, and in the in-house staff newspaper.

Mr. Walsh, who has said he will work unpaid in July, has urged employees to help the airline which lost £401 million last year.

Keith Williams, the airline's chief financial officer, will also be working unpaid for the month.

Line managers are approaching staff directly to ask what sacrifices they are prepared to make.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph during the aviation industry summit in Kuala Lumpur last week, Mr Walsh painted a grim picture of the current economic climate.

"The trading environment is the toughest it has ever been, I don't think there is any evidence that it is improving," he said. "This is probably the most difficult period in the history or our industry."

Mr Walsh, who will do without £61,000 as a result of his gesture, has written to the airline's 30,000 employees based in Britain asking them to volunteer for either unpaid leave or even to work for nothing for up to a month.

"I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company's survival plan. It really counts," Mr Walsh has told staff

Other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, have also launched similar emergency rescue plans, where they have been backed by staff.

BA is in talks with trade unions about a package of cuts, which could include up to 2,000 redundancies among the 14,000 cabin crew.

Unite, the largest of the BA unions, believes that the cuts the airline is looking for can be achieved without compulsory redundancies.

It is hoping to agree a package which would include career breaks and voluntary severance.

Despite unhappiness at the prospect of more cuts, there does not appear to be the appetite for industrial action at the airline, which has not suffered industrial action for several years.

A union spokesman was dismissive about the chief executive's gesture. "Willie Walsh may be able to afford to work for nothing, but our members can't."

The extent of the plight facing the industry in Britain were underlined by the latest quarterly figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority.

They showed that 6.4 million fewer passengers flew from United Kingdom Airports in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period in 2008, a fall of 13 per cent.

The biggest fall was in regional airports, which saw passenger numbers drop by 15 per cent, compared to 11 per cent in London.

Traffic to North America fell by 15 per cent, compared 7.3 per cent for Europe. The number of people flying within Britain dropped by 8.7 per cent.

Charter traffic fell by a fifth suggesting that there had been a dramatic slump in people taking skiing and winter sun holidays this year.