The union representing pilots at Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA)’s BMI unit has written to U.K. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond asking him to try to protect its members’ jobs should the German carrier try to sell the airline.
Hammond should meet with Lufthansa and tell the carrier that any deal should protect U.K. jobs, the British Airline Pilots’ Association said in a statement today. Lufthansa board member Stefan Lauer said Sept. 5 that the carrier hired a bank to “support in the search for a partner” for unprofitable BMI.
“Too often in the U.K., compared to elsewhere in Europe, the human factor is ignored,” said Jim McAuslan, general secretary of BALPA, in the statement. “This is serious. Unemployment is on the increase and British jobs are at risk.”
Lufthansa, based in Cologne, Germany, took control of BMI in 2009 when then-owner Michael Bishop exercised an option to sell it to the German carrier. Lufthansa has since been cutting costs at BMI in an effort to make the business either sustainable or attractive to bidders.
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