The union representing pilots at BMI has written to transport secretary Philip Hammond asking him to try to protect its members’ jobs should owner Lufthansa try to sell the airline.
Hammond should meet with the German airline and tell bosses that any deal should protect UK jobs, according to the British Airline Pilots’ Association.
Lufthansa board member Stefan Lauer said earlier this month that the carrier had hired a bank to “support in the search for a partner” for loss-making BMI.
BALPA general secretary Jim McAuslan said: “Too often in the UK, compared to elsewhere in Europe the human factor is ignored. This is serious. Unemployment is on the increase and British jobs are at risk.”
Lufthansa took control of BMI in 2009 when then-owner Sir Michael Bishop exercised an option to sell it to the German carrier.
Lufthansa has since been cutting costs at key Heathrow slot-holder BMI in an effort to make the business either sustainable or attractive to bidders, with British Airway and Virgin Atlantic both tipped as potential suitors.