British Airways has taken the unprecedented step of issuing a HR1 consultation notice for redundancies, which could put 30,000 jobs at risk. The GMB Union has demanded that the UK government steps in to bail out the airline and guarantee airline jobs and pay will be protected.

Nadine Houghton, GMB’s national officer, said: “BA can’t be given carte blanche to use bail out cash to line the pockets of fat cats. Any state intervention must come with a rock-solid commitment to save the jobs and pay all British Airways workers. We will need skilled aviation workers to reinvigorate the industry when we come out of this crisis.”