BA pilots to swap shares for a pay cut
BRITISH Airways pilots have voted to accept shares worth £13m in exchange for taking a pay cut, as part of a deal to cut costs at the struggling airline by £26m a year.
The arrangement is part of a draft agreement with all of BA’s 3,235 pilots, which will see them swap shares for a reduction in pay.
Pilots will receive the shares on or after 1 June 2011, and will not be able to sell them for a minimum of three years after they are allocated. The number of shares being given to each pilot will depend on BA’s stock price at the time of issue.
Meanwhile, Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA, told the Paris Air Show that the worst of the recession was “still ahead” for the airline industry.