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Scotland's biggest union Unite have warned that 'hundreds' of Edinburgh Airport jobs might be at risk due to the ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which an airport spokesman has described as 'unprecedented'. Nine new Lothian coronavirus cases were announced today (13 March).

It's thought that what is usually Scotland's busiest airport is facing three months of zero or close to zero demand as a result of the pandemic, which has had a severe effect on the aviation industry. .

Flybe has gone into administration, with some Flybe staff finding out that they no longer had a job in mid-air.

This collapse in turn affected baggage handling company Swissport, with 120 Swissport jobs at Edinburgh Airport at risk . A 45 day redundancy consultation process will start next week for those staff members.

This was followed today by the news that hundreds more Edinburgh Airport jobs could be at risk due to the dramatic slowdown.

Following that, one airline after another has cancelled flights and dramatically scaled back their schedule due to the pandemic, with Jet2, Ryanair , British Airways, Emirates and many more affected, plunging the aviation industry into crisis.

However, Edinburgh Live understand that all alternatives to redundancy at Edinburgh Airport are being explored, including shorter working weeks, deferred bonuses and unpaid leave, with no decision to axe jobs made as yet.

Unite released a statement saying:



"Unite the union has today (13 March) been informed that more than 100 jobs at Edinburgh Airport are at risk of redundancy due to Flybe falling into administration and the COVID-19 pandemic. Unite represents the overwhelming majority of the workforce at Edinburgh Airport which is owned by Global Infrastructure Partners where around 1000 workers are employed.

"The latest setback for Edinburgh Airport follows the news that 120 Swissport jobs are at risk of redundancy.

"A 45-day redundancy consultation process will now be established from next week for Edinburgh Airport. Unite, as the UK's leading aviation union, also warned that Edinburgh Airport and other airports across Scotland could be on the brink of collapse without support and stabilising measures from the Scottish Government.

Sandy Smart, Unite regional industrial officer, said:

“Hundreds of jobs are set to be lost at Edinburgh Airport in addition to the significant losses proposed by Swissport a few days ago. There is a crisis facing the civil aviation industry in Scotland.

"We call on all companies in Scottish airports from those who own them, the airlines who fly out of them and those companies in the supply chain dependent upon them to refrain from announcing wholesale redundancies.

"Unite fully understands the scale of this crisis and that's why we repeat our call for the Scottish Government to initiate a task force with immediate effect for the civil aviation industry in order to bring forward contingency plans to enable Scottish airports to remain open and to keep the workforce in employment through this crisis."

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said:

“There is no denying that the coronavirus situation is having an immediate and direct impact on our business and many others across Scotland and the rest of the world. As an airport we are facing an unprecedented situation, looking at the potential of three months of zero or close to zero passenger demand.



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“We have spent the last few weeks looking at how we deal with the immediate and longer term effects and unfortunately that means taking some extremely tough decisions as the industry continues to react. This is not an easy process for anyone involved and it is one we wish we did not have to consider.

“We will do all we can to protect our people who are at the heart airport and we will continue to communicate changes to our staff and will work with them to ensure the airport continues to operate as effectively as possible.”