The fallout of the Thomas Cook collapse has resulted in 351 further jobs at risk at Manchester Airport, Unite the union has said.
It comes as airport service company Aviator, which undertook ground handling operations for Thomas Cook at Manchester airport, has and with plans to cease trading on October 22.
Aviator provides services including passenger and baggage handling, security and de-icing of planes at the airport.
An Aviator spokesperson said: “This is another unfortunate outcome stemming from Thomas Cook’s recent liquidation.
“Thomas Cook was our largest customer, accounted for approximately 70 per cent of our service in Manchester and despite our efforts over the past two weeks, we have concluded that we cannot operate as a viable business supporting only our remaining customers.
“This proposal has not been made lightly and follows our exploration of several other solutions to continue our operations in Manchester which we began in earnest upon learning of Thomas Cook’s liquidation.”
Aviator said the impact of the Thomas Cook liquidation is “restricted” to its Manchester business.
Unite said it is “concerned” job losses in the Thomas Cook supply chain could a significant increase on the 4,000 directly employed workers who lost their jobs.
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Last month (September 23), The 海角视频 Civil Aviation Authority announced Thomas Cook had gone into liquidation, resulting in the loss of 9,000 jobs in the 海角视频, including 3,000 in Greater Manchester.
Oliver Richardson, Unite national officer for civil aviation, said: “Thomas Cook’s airline collapse will have major implications for the supply chain.
“We have already seen Aviator announce they will cease trading and redundancies at other companies.”
Aviator said it is not the only business to be negatively impacted by the collapse of Thomas cook.
The spokesperson added: “We will be consulting with employees’ representatives on this proposed plan and ways of mitigating redundancies and the consequences of ceasing operations
“Assuming the Manchester operations head towards ceasing operations, our goal is to provide an orderly wind-down of operations over the next two weeks to enable our customers to seek alternative service providers and minimize passenger disruption.
“For our employees, we are working to explore the possibility of a transfer pursuant to Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) for as many as possible and have initiated dialogues with other ground services organisations and airlines at Manchester Airport.
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“We have assured staff and their representatives today that for those who remain in our employ up to 22 October 2019, salaries corresponding to work completed as of that date will be paid.
“In partnership with UNITE and the elected employee reps we will consider the present situation, we will look at ways of avoiding and minimising redundancies, and ensure that all staff who are at risk of redundancy have information about resources that are available to help them through this difficult time.”
Mr Richardson also said the job losses highlighted government failings to support the airline, which it called an “act of economic vandalism”.
He said: “Inevitably the taxpayer will end up paying more in redundancy payments and other legal claims as well as benefits for workers who may struggle to find new work, than was needed to keep the airline flying while a long-term solution was sort.
“The government contains to falsely claim that Thomas Cook was unsustainable but has not been able to answer how the company’s airline subsidiaries in Germany, Spain and Scandinavia have continued to fly with the support of their national governments.”