Virgin Atlantic has announced a number of measures it is
taking to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus, including cutting executive
pay, freezing wage rises and restricting staff travel.
The airline said in a statement that it is “feeling the
impact of Covid-19 and seeing a fall in customer demand for travel”.
Steps include postponing the launch of flights between
Heathrow and Sao Paulo, which were due to begin on 29 March. This has now been
pushed back to the winter schedule, with services starting 5 October.
In addition, chief executive Shai Weiss will take a 20 per
cent pay cut for the four months from April, while the airline’s executive
leadership will take a 15 per cent reduction.
Virgin Atlantic is also freezing recruitment across the
company, restricting non-essential staff travel and training. It has proposed
delaying annual pay rises from March to August 2020, at which point it will “reassess
affordability”.
Ground-based staff are also being offered one to two weeks
of unpaid leave until the end of July.
The carrier also announced yesterday that it will be waiving
change fees for flights booked in March for travel up to and including 30
September.
It said: “We continue to review our flying programme and
additional changes will be made as the situation evolves.
“These sensible steps will ensure we are in a stronger
position once the impact of Covid-19 stabilises, with recovery expected in the
second half of the year.”