Virgin Atlantic faces court over allegations of unfair dismissal of older cabin crew

Hundreds of long-serving Virgin Atlantic cabin crew are suing the airline, alleging unfair dismissal in Covid-related layoffs targeting older staff.

London’s employment tribunal will begin considering more than 200 cases next month in which former crew members will argue that Sir Richard Branson’s airline unfairly dismissed them while retaining newer, cheaper hires.

Virgin Atlantic grounded most of its fleet from March 2020, when the Covid pandemic led to global lockdowns and travel restrictions. The airline quickly cut 3,000 jobs, ultimately reducing its 10,000 employees by more than 40%, and established a “reserve pool” to potentially rehire excess staff once flights resume.

However, a complaint claims Virgin retained 350 new cabin crew members, some with just a week’s training, while on-board managers, aged on average 45 with 20 years’ experience, were made redundant.

Susan Mccentegart, a 53-year-old in-house manager with 23 years’ experience at Virgin, is part of a group of 51 claimants represented by a Luton-based law firm. She said she was shocked not to have been included in the retention pool, noting that some of those retained had not completed their training.

“It was a devastating loss…I felt like my identity was gone and I was in a dark place with the way they were going about it,” Mcentegart said. “I felt it was an honor to work for Virgin, and I couldn’t believe they had done what they had done.”

In addition, 150 former staff are complaining to the Cabin Crew Union, and 11 of them are represented elsewhere.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson responded: “Following the serious impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the aviation industry, Virgin Atlantic has had to make some very difficult decisions. Unfortunately, this meant a 45% reduction in the number of people employed in the company.

“Our employees are extremely important to us, from those who have been with us since 1984 to our newest recruits. Throughout the redundancy process, we are committed to ensuring that all of our colleagues are treated fairly and compassionately.

“To enable as many of our staff as possible to return as soon as demand allows, we have introduced a standby pool, meaning over 1,000 of our cabin crew have returned to their seniority level previous.

“Where people have unfortunately had to leave us, it has been for impartial, objective and legal reasons, following extensive consultation with our recognized unions, elected representatives of colleagues and ongoing clear and open communication.”

Before Branson and other shareholders secured a £1.2bn bailout at the end of 2020, Virgin Atlantic had warned of a potential collapse. In a 2022 interview with the Guardian, CEO Shai Weiss said the company needed to make cuts before the pandemic after years of marginal profits, using the crisis as an opportunity to become more focused and efficient.