Bombardier warns over 400 job cuts at Belfast plant June 11, 2020 Planemaker Bombardier may be forced to cut 400 jobs in Northern Ireland, it was reported today, due to the “extraordinary industry interruptions and challenges” caused by coronavirus. The potential redundancies were confirmed after the Canadian firm laid out plans earlier this week to lay off 2,500 workers. The cuts would account for over 10 per [...]
European business networks join calls to quash quarantine plan June 11, 2020 Business networks which support the UK’s trade relationships with its European neighbours have added their voices to the growing criticism of the government’s blanket quarantine plan. Eduardo Barrachina, president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK, said that the plan “sent the wrong message” and risked putting the UK out of step with [...]
Heathrow Airport to begin job cuts as passenger numbers flatline June 11, 2020 Heathrow Airport announced this morning that it would begin to cut frontline jobs after the government’s 14-day quarantine measures meant traffic numbers were no longer sustainable. In May, passenger numbers were at an all time low of 228,000, down 97 per cent from last year. As a result, the airport, which has already cut one-third [...]
From airships or supersonic jets, air travel is about to change forever June 11, 2020 The phrase “a perfect storm” is frequently overused. But when it comes to aviation, it is no exaggeration. Indeed, the collision of the Covid-19 pandemic with the challenges the civil aviation industry was already facing is certain to precipitate the mother of all root and branch transformations in air travel. While journalists today write glibly [...]
Scottish MP submits bill to block BA’s ‘fire and rehire’ plans June 10, 2020 SNP MP Gavin Newlands has submitted an emergency bill to the House of Commons which would prevent firms using controversial “fire and rehire” tactics on their employees. The decision to bring forward the bill comes after it was claimed that British Airways (BA) was planning on making all 42,000 of its staff redundant and then [...]
More ‘Boris bikes’ to be rolled out after record numbers take to two wheels June 10, 2020 Transport for London is adding 1,700 more bikes to its Santander Cycle scheme in response to record numbers of users during May. With health fears over coronavirus keeping Londoners off public transport, last month saw over 1.2m of the vehicles – formerly known as “Boris bikes” – hired, the highest number in the scheme’s 10-year [...]
Corporate travel firms call for business air bridges to avoid quarantine June 10, 2020 The UK’s business travel sector has called on the government to create industry-specific air bridges to European business hubs in order to sidestep the current 14-day quarantine plan. In a letter to home secretary Priti Patel and transport secretary Grant Shapps, Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, proposed three pilot travel corridors [...]
UK airlines set for jobs crisis on par with collapse of mining in 1980s June 10, 2020 The UK’s aviation sector is on the brink of a jobs crisis as severe as that which devastated the mining industry in the 1980s, a new report has found. According to the New Economics Foundation (NEF), up to 70,000 jobs are under threat as a result of the coronavirus crisis, which has grounded airlines around [...]
Honda forced to suspend factory activity in wake of cyber attack June 9, 2020 Honda has halted production at a number of its global factories after suffering a suspected cyber attack to its internal servers. A spokesperson for Honda said today that activity had been suspended as the company needed to ensure that its quality control systems were not compromised. Honda was hit by a suspected hack yesterday that [...]
TfL set to reopen its major construction projects June 9, 2020 Construction work is set to restart on major Transport for London (TfL) projects after months of inactivity. TfL announced today that it would organise a “phased restart” of its 300 sites that it shut down during the coronavirus lockdown. Key projects that will restart include the Bank station upgrade and the Northern Line extension. The [...]