500 Scottish airline staff fear for their jobs as Bmi slashes costs

Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009 21:14

THERE are fears for the future of more than 500 Scottish jobs at airline Bmi after it signalled cuts across the group.

It follows an announcement yesterday that 158 staff were being shed at its no-frills arm, Bmibaby.

The carrier said a "restructuring exercise" was now planned next month at both Aberdeen-based Bmi Regional and Bmi's main operations.

The news came as figures obtained by The Scotsman showed more than one in six flights by all airlines on non-London UK routes from Glasgow, and one in eight from Edinburgh, have been axed since last year.

The Bmibaby fleet is to be reduced by nearly a third, from 17 to 12 aircraft next year. A total of 54 pilots and 82 cabin crew at Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff airports are "at risk of redundancy", along with 22 management and support positions.

The airline has not revealed which flights will be cut, but said it would in future focus on routes "where there are clear indications and prospects for future growth and development".

Bmibaby competes with Flybe on the Edinburgh and Glasgow to Birmingham routes and between Edinburgh and Cardiff.

It is also the sole airline on the Edinburgh and Glasgow to East Midlands route, which appears to be more secure because the carrier plans to expand operations, with 25 new jobs at the English airport – EasyJet is pulling out of there.

No Bmibaby staff are based in Scotland, but unions and aviation experts are worried jobs will be lost north of the Border when other parts of the Bmi operation are reviewed.

They also fear new owner Lufthansa may yet sell off both Bmibaby and Bmi Regional, despite the German airline shelving such plans last week.

The Bmi group has 517 staff in Scotland, including 151 at its Bmi Regional head office in Aberdeen.

Bmi flies from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen to Heathrow, while Bmi Regional's Scottish routes include links to cities such as Leeds, Manchester and Norwich.

Brian Boyd, national aviation officer for the Unite union, said: "This announcement casts further doubt over the whole Bmi group, as new owner Lufthansa searches for cost savings.

"We have serious concerns about the possibility of further redundancies in the group. The financial crisis cutting corporate travel has had a major effect."

Laurie Price, director of aviation strategy at consultant Mott MacDonald, said: "Lufthansa will be concentrating on Bmi's core operations and everything else may be shaken out. Things are very, very tough out there."

Richard Havers, an aviation writer and former airline executive, said he would be "very surprised" if the jobs axe did not fall in Scotland.

Bmibaby managing director Crawford Rix, who has launched a three-month consultation with staff over the cuts, said: "The aviation industry is facing its toughest time ever. It is experiencing record losses and remedial action has to be taken."

Figures compiled for The Scotsman by BAA, the owner of Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, show the number of flights on the type of routes flown by the likes of Bmibaby and Bmi Regional plunged in the year to September.

There were 18.8 per cent fewer non-London UK flights from Glasgow compared with the previous year, and 13.6 per cent fewer from Edinburgh.

During that time, Flybe pulled out of the Glasgow-Norwich route, while the Edinburgh to Manchester route – which is operated by Bmi Regional and Flybe – saw the greatest reduction in flights. These were cut by a third.

The only new such route was Edinburgh-Bournemouth, operated by Ryanair.