Spain’s hero pilot reminisces from Fuengirola, Costa del Sol as many BA pilots hang up their wings rather than take a pay cut.

Many long serving BA pilots have taken early retirement- and so have BA`s iconic 747`s. image: Wikipedia

A BA pilot that lives locally looked back on his career and thought of his fellow pilots as he landed in the Caribbean, the crisis has affected the whole airline industry badly and many ‘Ace Veterans’ and friends of his have decided they would rather take early retirement than work for less.

At the same time, British Airways’ iconic 747 jumbo jets will no longer be operated by the airline after it decided to retire its entire fleet with immediate effect. The decision marks the end of an era for the double-decker jumbo within UK airlines, given that Virgin Atlantic had already announced it was to scrap its remaining 747s.

Pay cuts

British Airways’ pilots have accepted a deal that will temporarily cut pay by 20 per cent and eliminate more than 200 jobs, the pilots’ union said on Friday.

“The deal means that there will be temporary 20 per cent pay cuts reducing to 8 per cent over two years and towards zero over the longer term,” British Airline Pilots Association said in a statement. “Regrettably, there will still be some compulsory redundancies which are currently estimated to be 270, although that number will fall as mitigations take effect,” the statement added.

The ballot result was 85 per cent to accept the deal on an 87 per cent turnout. There will be no “fire and rehire” of pilots, the union said. UK lawmakers have previously criticised BA, alleging that it used a furlough “fire and rehire” scheme, a tactic used by companies forcing employees to accept inferior terms.
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Tony Winterburn

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