Virgin Atlantic sacks more Hong Kong staff amid questions about its future in the city
British airline shuts its ticketing and reservation department with the loss of 16 jobs but insists it will continue serving Hong Kong
Virgin Atlantic Airways is axing more staff in Hong Kong, throwing up question marks about its future in the city.
The airline confirmed it would shut its ticketing and reservation department entirely, with 16 jobs to go by May 31. The move will affect 60 per cent of its local back office staff. Responsibilities will be passed to Singapore and its US shareholder, Delta Air Lines, which has a 49 per cent stake in the carrier.
The British airline confirmed the “difficult decision” but said it was not a reflection on “the great work” done by its Hong Kong staff.
On Thursday, union and staff sources said Virgin had handed redundancy notices to two more staff members in the cargo department, leaving only the airline’s cargo manager in Hong Kong.
In November last year, the airline sacked 50 experienced Hong Kong cabin crew in a major cost-cutting drive, and in 2014 sacked almost 80 flight attendants.
Commenting on the restructuring, Virgin Atlantic Hong Kong Cabin Crew Union chairman Bobby Yeung Sheung-hang said: “I’m not sure why they decided to go ahead with this redundancy this time. I know late last year they made a decision to keep the service in Hong Kong. However now in April they make the decision to cut ticketing, reservations and the call centre.”
The union boss said the redundancy was “really unacceptable” and “ridiculous”.
