Hundreds of jobs at risk as EasyJet plans to close hubs at Southend and Stansted

Watch a video report by ITV News Anglia's Rebecca Haworth at Luton airport

Airline easyJet is planning to cut more than 700 pilot jobs and close its bases at Stansted and Southend airports.

That's according to the trade union, the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), which says 727 of its pilots are at risk of redundancy.

The company is also proposing to close its base at Newcastle Airport.

BALPA General Secretary Brian Strutton said: "We know that aviation is in the midst of the Covid crisis and we had been expecting easyJet to make an announcement of temporary measures to help the airline through to recovery.

"But this seems an excessive over reaction and easyJet won't find a supply of pilots waiting to come back when the recovery takes place over the next two years."

The airline announced last month it was reducing its workforce by up to 30%.

Today, it confirmed it had started "formal consultation on proposals with employee representatives including BALPA and UNITE on all of its UK based pilots and crew."

EasyJet said it would continue flying to Stansted, Southend and Newcastle even if it stopped basing aircraft there.

The airline's chief executive Johan Lundgren said: "These are very difficult proposals to put forward in what is an unprecedented and difficult time for the airline and the industry as a whole.

"We are focused on doing what is right for the company and its long-term health and success so we can protect jobs going forward.

"Unfortunately the lower demand environment means we need fewer aircraft and have less opportunity for work for our people. We are committed to working constructively with our employee representatives across the network with the aim of minimising job losses as far as possible."

But BALPA say the potential job losses equates to nearly one in three of easyJet pilots in the UK. “This is more evidence that aviation in the UK is caught in a death spiral of despair and individual airlines are flailing around without direction," said Mr Strutton.

"BALPA repeats its call for Government to step in, provide a strategy and back a moratorium on job losses while all stakeholders sort out an holistic way forward for the whole aviation sector.”

Easyjet currently bases 163 aircraft in the UK at 11 bases, serving 546 routes and flying more than 52 million passengers to and from the UK every year.