A statement from IAG, the parent company of the UK’s flagship carrier, said: ‘In light of the impact of Covid-19 on current operations and the expectation that the recovery of passenger demand to 2019 levels will take several years, British Airways is formally notifying its trade unions about a proposed restructuring and redundancy programme.

‘The proposals remain subject to consultation but it is likely that they will affect most of British Airways’ employees and may result in the redundancy of up to 12,000 of them.

‘As previously announced, British Airways has availed itself of the UK’s Covid-19 job retention scheme and furloughed 22,626 employees in April.’

In a letter to staff, Alex Cruz, chairman and CEO at British Airways, said that the airline is currently flying ‘just a handful’ of aircraft out of Heathrow, compared to a normal daily average of over 300.

Cruz stated that the global aviation body, IATA, has said that full year industry passenger revenues could plummet 55% compared to 2019, while traffic falls 48%.

‘What we are facing as an airline, like so many other businesses up and down the country, is that there is no “normal” any longer.

‘We are taking every possible action to conserve cash, which will help us to weather the storm in the short-term. We are working closely with partners and suppliers to discuss repayment terms; we are re-negotiating contracts where possible; and we are considering all the options for our current and future aircraft fleet. All of these actions alone are not enough. 

‘In the last few weeks, the outlook for the aviation industry has worsened further and we must take action now,’ Cruz said.

Among other UK airlines, EasyJet has laid off its 4,000 UK-based cabin crew for two months while Sir Richard Branson has offered his Caribbean island as collateral in a request for a government bail out of up to £500m.

Virgin Australia, which is 10% owned by the billionaire’s Virgin Group, has gone into administration, after similar requests for a £700m bailout from the Australian Government were turned down. John Greig, Vaughan Strawbridge and Richard Hughes from Deloitte have been appointed joint administrators, with some 10,000 jobs now at risk.

Elsewhere, Qantas has put 20,000 staff on leave, while Air Canada has done the same for about 15,200 employees.

Norwegian Air has said it could run out of cash by mid-May. At American Airlines, about 4,800 pilots have agreed to take short-term leave on reduced pay and more than 700 are taking early retirement.

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus has furloughed 3,200 staff at its north Wales site, with chief executive Guillaume Faury warning the company was ‘bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed’.