'No compulsory redundancies at easyJet' – Balpa

Balpa said a "huge community effort" had resulted in 60 pilots leaving the carrier voluntarily, while a further 1,500 have opted to work part-time.

Meanwhile, pilots who had been working at easyJet’s now closed Southend, Stansted and Newcastle bases will be offered jobs elsewhere across the airline’s UK network.

Balpa said its membership had gone from strength-to-strength during the Covid crisis, resulting in it twice rejecting easyJet’s coronavirus corporate agreement and a "redundancy selection matrix" which Balpa said included sickness.

The union said it subsequently saw a chance in easyJet’s stance. "We have been extremely pleased with the airline’s positive approach during negotiations which was, like ours, to reduce job losses to an absolute minimum while recognising the seriousness of the COVID-19 challenge to the air travel sector," said the union.