Thomson Airways starts negotiations with staff over redundancy plans

THOMSON Airways has begun consulting staff over redundancies, raising the prospect of hundreds of job losses, unions have revealed.

Unite said it feared up to 600 jobs could be affected under efficiency plans announced by the company.

The airline employs several thousand cabin crew staff across the UK at airports, including Glasgow.

The company said: “Thomson Airways will be entering a 90-day consultation period with members of the cabin crew this month.

“This is as a result of our continuing drive to become more efficient, which includes changes to the aircraft fleet.

“Boeing 737-800 aircraft requiring fewer cabin crew are replacing Boeing 757s when they come up for renewal.

“Thomson Airways is committed to mitigating the impact of these changes on cabin crew and is working in partnership with the relevant trade union to achieve this result.”

Unite regional officer Kevin Hall said: “These cuts are a blow to the workforce and to the airline.

“Unite will be working constructively with the company, and we are confident that we can substantially mitigate the impact of these cuts.

“However, Unite is adamant that compulsory redundancies are out of the question and we expect firm assurances from Thomson Airways that they will not go down this route.”

Thomson Airways employs about 2,600 cabin crew.

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has launched a recruitment drive for 500 cabin crew under plans to expand the airline’s network and fleet for 2012.

The jobs will be based at London Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, with recruits working on Virgin Atlantic’s new routes of Cancun, Mexico, and Vancouver, British Columbia, plus other destinations on its long-haul network including New York, Barbados, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Shanghai, China.

Corneel Koster, director of operations, safety and security for Virgin Atlantic, said: “It is an exciting year of growth and investment for Virgin Atlantic as we look forward to expanding our network and welcoming a new fleet of aircraft.

“The roles have been created to support our new destinations of Cancun and Vancouver, a second rotation on our San Francisco route and also new A330-300 aircraft of which we take delivery of seven later in the year.”