British Airways May Sell It’s Headquarters After Homeworking Shows Office Space Not Needed

British Airways May Sell It’s Headquarters After Homeworking Shows Office Space Not Needed.

British Airways said it is considers selling it’s headquarters after homeworking during the lockdown has shown it doesn’t need as much office space for staff.

The potential sale of the building, which was first reported by the Financial Times, could boost the airline’s finances which have been hammered by COVID-19- the building was completed in 1998 at a cost of 200 million pounds (approx €234m).

The shift to homeworking over the last year has already prompted some of Britain’s biggest companies to make changes to their office footprints. Banking giant Lloyds said it would cut office space by 20% within three years, with HSBC aiming for a 40% reduction.

The BA complex, Waterside, is near Heathrow Airport, west of London, and is also the headquarters of British Airways parent company, IAG. British Airways said in a statement that many employees enjoyed working from home and its future policy would likely be a flexible mix of home and office working.

“We’ve restructured our business to emerge from the crisis and are considering whether we still have the need for such a large headquarters building,” a spokesman said in a statement.

To survive the pandemic, British Airways has spent the last year cutting costs, including shedding over 10,000 employees, leaving it with about 30,000, most of whom don’t work in the office but are pilots, cabin crew, engineers or airport staff.

The airline raised cash as it inexpediently sold off some famous works of art that formerly hung in its executive lounges. Waterside’s long-term future was already hanging in the balance as it would need to be demolished if the proposed expansion of Heathrow goes ahead.

Related:

British Airways Boss Urges Boris To Lift Travel Restrictions

Sean Doyle, the British Airways chief executive, has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lift the travel ban and let vaccinated people fly abroad again, capitalising on the successful rollout of the vaccine in the UK.

Mr Doyle said, “We know people want to travel, we know countries want to accept travellers and we believe with testing, vaccination, and technology we can enable that in a way that is seamless and frictionless and allows the industry to get back on its feet again”.

Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “British Airways May Sell Its Headquarters After Homeworking Shows Office Space Not Needed”. For more UK daily news, Spanish daily news and Global news stories, visit the Euro Weekly News home page.