Naturally it would be right and proper first of all to send heart-felt condolences and sympathy to all of those families and individuals across the world that have lost loved ones in the recent events. Their grief and concern is uppermost in most people's minds right now.
Secondly, I extend my sympathies and best wishes to all that have and will be affected as a consequence of these terrible events, not just in Virgin but numerous airlines around the world. It has to be said that few on this earth will not be affected in some way or other by these events.
Now, to the post in question; Whilst one would hope that certain principles are adopted in those cases where there are going to be redundancies and lay-offs, I fear that this will ultimately depend on whether there are agreements in force or not.
In case this is helpful, I previously worked for one of the major charter airlines in the UK that faced a redundancy situation some years back. There was an agreement in place that honoured the fundamental principle of seniority (i.e last in, first out). If memory serves me correct, the airline was looking for something like 32 redundancies. Prior to making compulsory redundancies, the airline first had to offer voluntary redundancies to the whole pilot force. To the credit of the airline concerned, those terms were quite attractive and a good number accepted the voluntary redundancy package. The consequence was that very few indeed faced compulsory redundancy and as things transpired in the end I believe all were offered their contracts back. A few Captains suffered demotion back to the right hand seat, and again there was a financial cushion extended to the very few that had a short demotion. All were very quickly upgraded again as the airline found replacement business for that which it had lost.
Ok, there was an agreement in place, which the airline honoured to the letter, but in fairness the airline went a lot further in softening the blow to those affected by the consequences of a customer cancelling a major contract.
The above is an example of a very fair and equitable way of dealing with a situation that is beyond the control of the airline itself. Having said that, the airline in question was financially sound at that time and they applied a certain moral code to the situation. I'm not inferring that Virgin or any other airline is financially weak, but who knows what effect the latest events have had on the bottom line. If it comes to it and they have their back against the wall, I'm afraid that any business will probably stick to their legal liability at best in order to ensure the survival of the company itself. If the business cannot survive, then everyone looses their jobs, regardless of seniority.
The world aviation community needs to adress the core issue here, which is customer confidence. The world goverments have a big part to play here. How do we instill confidence back in the travelling publics' mind that it is inherently safe to travel by air? Rather than bailing out those airlines that will not survive these events, we need to apply available resources to restore customer confidence. Whilst I will not stop travelling by air, I understand the mass reaction. If one studied the death statistics of travel by car or train or boat then no-one would leave home in the morning. The problem here is that the casualties have been focussed into 'one event', rather than consistent, continuing, daily events that one accepts as a way of life.
Let's all hope that the eneviatble consequences are contained and short-lived.