A Virgin Atlantic plane taxiing at Heathrow Airport (Picture:PA)

Virgin Atlantic has said it will cut 80% of flights per day and asked staff to take eight weeks unpaid leave as demand for travel plummets amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The company said it plans to ground 75% of its fleet by 26 March and a further 10% by April. It has permanently axed the London Heathrow-Newark route with immediate effect and will prioritise ‘core routes based on customer demand’.

The airline said in a statement: ‘This change amounts (to an) approximately 80% reduction in flights per day by 26 March. As a direct consequence we will be parking approximately 75% of our fleet by 26 March and at points in April will go up to 85%.



‘Owing to restrictions to international travel, the airline is reducing services to focus on core routes, depending on customer demand. This will be subject to constant review as the situation evolves.’


Virgin Atlantic is grounding 75% of its fleet and asking staff to take two months unpaid leave (Picture: Getty)

The company said they were taking the drastic measures to ‘ensure cash is preserved, costs are controlled and the future of the airline is safeguarded’.

The airline is one of many that has been forced to dramatically scale back their operation to cope with a fall in passenger demand as a result of global travel restrictions and the reluctance to go abroad due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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They said asking staff to take two months unpaid leave, the cost of which will be spread over six months salary, is the only way they can reduce outgoings without making job losses.

The move has the support of unions BALPA and UNITE, according to the statement.

Virgin is the latest airline to introduce drastic measures to cope with the fall in demand amid the coronavirus outbreak (Picture: PA)

Virgin has already asked for state aid in an effort to keep the business alive. Peter Norris, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways’ majority shareholder, Virgin Group, has written to Boris Johnson asking for a £7.5 billion package to help the airline industry cope with the fallout of the coronavirus crisis.

The hit to the travel industry as a result of the pandemic has already seen Europe’s largest regional airline Flybe collapse. Meanwhile, British Airways has said it is ‘fighting for survival’ with plans to cut capacity by 75% in April and May.

Virgin’s announcement comes as several major airlines warned they would also be taking emergency measures to keep themselves afloat.

Norwegian Air has said it will cancel 85% of its flights and temporarily lay off 7,300 employees amid the growing crisis. The carrier said the virus has halted demand for air travel, particularly after a travel ban to the US from Europe was implemented.

Norwegian Air has also announced plans to lay off 7,300 staff (Picture: Shutterstock)

Empty Heathrow airport this morning as several airlines warn of grounding fleet and cutting jobs in order to survive (Picture: SWNS)

Donald Trump extended his recent clampdown on European travel to also include Britain over the weekend – Norwegian’s biggest destination for transatlantic flights. Other nations have also severely limited air traffic.

easyJet said today that the knock-on effect of Covid-19 ‘could result in the grounding of the majority of the easyJet fleet’. The company said that it would continue to operate rescue flights for short periods ‘where we can’ to repatriate passengers; however, it would also be cutting operations further.



Chief executive Johan Lundgren said: ‘European aviation faces a precarious future and it is clear that coordinated government backing will be required to ensure the industry survives and is able to continue to operate when the crisis is over’.

Ryanair says it expects to reduce its capacity by up to 80% in the next seven to 10 days, and ‘a full grounding of the fleet cannot be ruled out’. However, chief executive Michael O’Leary said the business is ‘resilient’, with ‘substantial cash liquidity’ and will survive with ‘appropriate and timely action’.

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Tourism giant TUI has also made a request for state aid today, after announcing that it was suspending the majority of its operations over coronavirus fears.

Shares in IAG were down 20% and easyJet’s shares were down more than 15% just before 10am today, in another bruising day for the stockmarket. Shares in Tui AG fell by more than 29% and Ryanair was down more than 18%.

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