The Virgin Atlantic Airways' announcement that up to 600 jobs are threatened with redundancy is extremely worrying the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA) said today.

'Against recent profit news and an order for 10 new aircraft this is a very disappointing turn of events,' said BALPA General Secretary Jim McAuslan.'BALPA will approach this in a professional and methodical way.

'We shall first pressure-test the claims that these cuts are necessary. Once we are sure of the financial situation we shall work with our members (over 90 per cent of Virgin pilots are members of BALPA) with the aim of saving each and every job.

'As other companies are learning, BALPA is prepared to share the pain to preserve jobs in the downturn if its members later share the gain when things turn for the better.

'And, as most employers have come to recognise, pilot labour supply is not a tap which can be turned off and on at will so the successful companies will be those with the reservoir of pilots who can respond quickly when passenger demand picks up.'