No compulsory redundancies among Easyjet pilots

LONDON - Easyjet pilots and management have achieved a breakthrough in negotiations meaning that no pilots will be made compulsorily redundant, British Airline Pilot Association (BALPA) said in a statement. In June Easyjet’s estimate was that 727 pilots were at risk of redundancy.

Since March of this year, the BALPA negotiating team anticipated the threat of potential job cuts and prepared for the start of a consultation process.

"There has been a huge community effort to do everything possible to reduce the need for compulsory measures which has resulted in 60 pilots leaving voluntarily and a further 1,500 opting for part time work," the union said.

All the pilots based at Southend, Stansted, and Newcastle which have been closed will be offered jobs elsewhere on the UK network.

"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," BALPA General Secretary Brian Strutton said.