EasyJet (U2/EZY) has reached an agreement with the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) which ensures that no pilot will be made compulsorily redundant.
Many EasyJet pilots were facing the loss of their jobs after Easyjet closed three bases at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle but they will now be offered jobs elsewhere in the UK.
While the Union understood that cuts needed to be made within the airline, it worked with EasyJet to minimise that which has now been achieved with 60 pilots leaving voluntarily and a further 1,500 opting for part-time work.
Brian Strutton, BALPA General Secretary said: “This is a remarkable achievement which has only been possible because of three groups of people: the BALPA reps, easyJet management who have worked with us constructively during this process, but most of all the easyJet pilots themselves who have volunteered in record numbers for part-time work and voluntary redundancy to help save their colleagues’ jobs.”
Captain Sean Casey, Chairman of the BALPA EasyJet Company Council added: “I have been overwhelmed by the take up of part-time. Each pilot who has volunteered to work less has done so because he or she wants to help colleagues keep their jobs. This truly is a demonstration of our unity in EasyJet.
“I want to pay tribute to our EasyJet management colleagues who we’ve been working with throughout this process. We’ve had tough talks, but in the end, we have come to a sensible and fair arrangement in light of the crisis the whole aviation sector is facing. We have now secured a solid platform for both the airline and the pilots to benefit from the recovery we all hope to see in the next year.”
EasyJet had previously estimated it would been to make 727 pilots redundant.
