BALPA General Secretary Brian Strutton said: “BALPA welcomes the creditor backing for Virgin Atlantic’s recovery plan which should mean it gets court approval on 2nd September, thereby protecting 6,500 U.K. jobs for the time being.

“It’s a shame the U.K. Government wouldn’t help Virgin and frankly, unless the Government starts supporting the aviation industry soon, there will be more job losses and in airlines and regional airports.”