Virgin Atlantic to Cut 3,150 Jobs as Airlines Face 'Death Spiral'

London (dpa) - Virgin Atlantic airline announced plans to cut 3,150 jobs on Tuesday, in the latest blow to an industry rocked by the severe impact of global efforts to curb the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss said the airline was forced to cut costs to "safeguard [its] future and emerge a sustainably profitable business" by next year.

"This will mean taking steps to reshape and resize Virgin Atlantic in line with demand," Weiss said in a statement.

"We have weathered many storms since our first flight 36 years ago, but none has been as devastating as Covid-19 and the associated loss of life and livelihood for so many," he said.

Virgin's move followed British Airways' announcement last week of plans for up to 12,000 redundancies, and a warning from low-cost carrier Ryanair that it could cut up to 3,000 jobs.

"Why is the government sitting on its hands while aviation plunges further towards a death spiral?" Brian Strutton, general secretary of pilots' trade union BALPA, said following Virgin's announcement.

BALPA wrote an open letter to the government on Monday, calling for urgent action to mitigate the "crisis in aviation."

Weiss noted that Virgin had taken similar action after the "9/11" terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 and the 2008 global financial crisis, but many redundant staff were "back flying with us within a couple of years."

Virgin group founder Richard Branson warned last month that the airline needed government loans to keep operating.

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