Buzz takeover sparks job losses

HUNDREDS of jobs at Stansted Airport are to be axed once low-budget airline Ryanair's £15m takeover of competitor Buzz is complete.

The Irish airline has announced details of a major reorganisation from April 1 as a result of a "haemorrhage of losses", which will see up to 400 redundancies, 12 Buzz routes terminated, and all Buzz flights grounded during April.

It has been predicted that once the takeover is complete Buzz's fleet will be grounded for at least four weeks to allow the company to make the redundancies and offer the remaining 200 staff pay incentives to continue operating the reduced fleet.

The management of Buzz is currently briefing staff that if an agreement is not made within two weeks, Buzz will be closed from April 1.

Passengers on terminated flights are being offered full refunds and will be able to rebook from March 12.

A statement said the redundancies were an "unfortunate feature" of the reorganisation, and that staff were not to blame for the financial losses.

It stated: "The management of Buzz will be meeting with staff groups and representative as part of the on-going consultation. They will be presenting the stark realities of Buzz's financial crisis, and the worsening trading outlook for Buzz given the prospect of war in the Middle East, the intensity of competition Buzz faces from low fare airlines in the German and French markers, and the escalating cost of fuel.

"The management of Buzz believe the core of the Buzz operation can be saved, but only by increasing frequencies on a core of 12 routes, massively reducing air fares, and increasing traffic and load factors as well as staff productivity.

"The staff representatives will also be left in no doubt of the seriousness of Buzz's financial crisis and that the alternative to this reorganisation will be the closure of Buzz altogether on March 31."

11:46 Thursday 27th February 2003

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