British Airways announced on Tuesday that it will cut 12,000 jobs as the coronavirus outbreak has grounded flights around the world.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media.

International Airlines Group (IAG), the airline’s parent company, said it will make over a quarter of BA’s workers redundant as the majority of its fleet remains grounded due to the global pandemic. BA employs 45,000 people.

IAG’s statement said: “In light of the impact of COVID-19 on current operations and the expectation that the recovery of passenger demand to 2019 levels will take several years, British Airways is formally notifying its trade unions about a proposed restructuring and redundancy programme.”

The program will likely “affect most of British Airways' employees and may result in the redundancy of up to 12,000 of them,” it added.