British Airways (BA) on Friday threatened to take legal action against the UK government’s imposition of 14-day quarantine requirements from June 8. In a letter to members of the British parliament, Willie Walsh, CEO of BA’s parent group IAG, said that the quarantine has “torpedoed” any chance of the airline sector recovering as the summer season starts. Indicating that he expects other carriers to launch legal action, he condemned the policy as “terrible, irrational, and disproportionate.”
In an interview on Sky News, Walsh also pushed back against accusations from politicians and union leaders this week that BA is rushing to lay off up to 12,000 jobs, despite having received government financial support to cover the cost of furloughing staff during the Covid-19 crisis. He denied that it is a foregone conclusion that all 12,000 positions will be lost and suggested that further talks with unions could result in some job losses being avoided.
BA confirmed to AIN that its CEO, Alex Cruz, deliberately boycotted a June 4 meeting between aviation industry leaders and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to discuss the quarantine rules. Ryanair also opted not to attend the meeting in protest against what it views as unfair treatment by the government.
Patel has drawn wide criticism in the industry for not consulting with the companies since announcing plans for the quarantine on May 22. The June 4 meeting convened a day after she told parliament that she had no intention of abandoning the quarantine plan, prompting some to question the purpose of the meeting.
Walsh also firmly denied allegations made during a debate in parliament on June 3 that BA is somehow using the crisis as an opportunity to force staff to accept new contracts with reduced pay and benefits. He urged union leaders, who have accused the company of seeking pay cuts of up to 70 percent, to resume negotiations.
Unions representing BA staff, along with members of parliament from all major political parties, including some from the ruling Conservative Party, have criticized IAG for making BA bear the brunt of the cuts. They have alleged that BA Spanish sister company Iberia has benefitted from higher levels of government financial support and has pressed ahead with plans to acquire Air Europa, using funds that could be applied to save jobs. Some critics of BA have suggested that it should be forced to relinquish airport slots to reflect its plans to reduce capacity.
Walsh acknowledged that the UK, unlike other European countries, has not offered a state-guaranteed loan system, and pointed out that BA has secured the maximum amount allowable under the Bank of England-backed Covid Corporate Financing Facility of around £300 million ($378 million). On June 3, UK aviation minister Kelly Tolhurst rejected calls from members of her own governing Conservative Party to offer a dedicated financial aid package to keep aviation afloat at a time when the quarantine rules are expected to eliminate almost any prospect of earning a sustainable volume of revenue traffic. She said that the government would consider requests for help from individual companies that had exhausted all other avenues for securing financing.
Walsh’s strong comments suggest that BA feels the need to push back against what it sees as efforts to demonize the company for the breakdown of the aviation sector. His viewpoint has been echoed by other UK industry leaders who feel the quarantine requirements represent an unjustified attempt by the government to make up for alleged failure to take effective action against Covid earlier in the crisis.