The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) is issuing a ‘Mayday’ distress call for the aviation industry. The union has sounded several alarms over the past few days after news surfaced of planned employee layoffs from airlines British Airways and Ryanair.

British Airways
IAG and British Airways have been criticized for the potential layoffs. Photo: Getty Images

Fighting to save 'every pilot job'

“BALPA is fighting to save every pilot job at BA. The company has declined Government support claiming it is financially secure enough to survive the coronavirus crisis, so it is hard to see how these cuts can be justified. -Brian Strutton, BALPA General Secretary

With 12,000 planned redundancies at British Airways and a potential loss of 3,000 jobs at Ryanair, BALPA is stepping up to protect its union members from termination.

Ryanair getty
Of the 64 routes, 25 are new to the airport. Photo: Getty Images

Through recent BALPA public statements, it appears the union's main tactic will be calling on the government for immediate support and reminding those in charge of the importance of aviation to the national economy.

The aviation sector's importance to the UK economy

BALPA's most recent press release highlighted the importance of UK aviation in the nation's economy - bringing in £10.9 billion when factoring in the larger supply chain and workforce. In a more direct sense, aviation contributes £5.2 billion to the national GDP.

Thus, it is calling on the UK Government to support its airlines through this crisis by delivering a package of support. Part of these calls included reminders of UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak's promise to help airlines on March 17th.

British Airways 777 repatriation
In March, the airline sent three Boeing 777s to Havana to repatriate stranded travelers from the cruise ship MS Braemar. Photo: Getty Images

Since then, only easyJet has received support in the form of a £600 million ($740 million) loan. The money comes from the Treasury and Bank of England’s emergency coronavirus fund.

Other than that, however, Virgin Atlantic has failed to receive assistance while British Airways has yet to even ask for assistance (as far as we know).

“Without swift action, UK aviation will fall behind our global competitors and it simply won’t be there to aid recovery when the demand returns...Aviation will suffer, and so too will the industries that rely on aviation indirectly and our ability to trade on a global scale. That can only be bad for the UK economy." -Brian Strutton, BALPA General Secretary

Strutton ends his statement reminding readers that a full Brexit looms at the end of this year. Thus, without a healthy and competitive aviation industry, the UK will suffer even more.

Conclusion

With this being said, it's difficult to know if a massive bailout for airlines is the best way to support airline employees right now. Indeed, there are travel restrictions all over the world, and it will take quite some time for the industry to recover fully.

With this in mind, is it wise to keep workers employed in an industry with so little current demand? Perhaps it would be a better strategy to invest in re-training and re-certification programs or unemployment support schemes.

What do you think of BALPA's calls for government support? Should the UK Government step in with a sweeping bailout package as the United States delivered to its airlines? Or is there a better way to support aviation workers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.