Swissport to cut more than 4,500 UK jobs

Unions have described ground services company Swissport's plan to cut more than 4,500 jobs as devastating and called on the government to come up with a support package for the aviation industry.

Swissport is the UK's biggest provider of airport baggage and ticketing services and employs about 8,500 people in Britain. The company, owned by China's HNA Group, has started consulting workers about 4,556 planned cuts, which would reduce its UK workforce by more than half.

The grounding of almost all flights since late March under the Covid-19 lockdown has put the aviation industry under huge financial pressure which will only be partly relieved when flights resume under social distancing constraints during a deep recession.

Unite and the GMB, two of Britain's biggest unions, said the cuts would hit regional economies because Swissport handles flights in and out of just about all the UK's airports. Swissport serves small regional hubs as well as big airports such as London Gatwick and Heathrow and Manchester and Glasgow.

Nadine Houghton the GMB's national officer, said: “This is devastating news. With Swissport now considering job cuts on this scale we have deep concerns about the viability of many of our regional airports and the benefits for regional connectivity that they bring.”

British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair have announced a total of almost 20,000 job cuts with a return to pre-crisis flight levels not expected for several years. At least 70,000 aviation jobs could go in the next few months as damage ripples out into supply chains, the New Economics Foundation thinktank has warned.

The unions stepped up calls for a rescue deal for the aviation industry from the government, including including financial support and extending its furlough programme for the sector.

Oliver Richardson, Unite's national officer, said: “Speed is of the essence if the government is to save thousands of aviation jobs and livelihoods. It’s not too late.”