British Airways offers £1K welcome bonus as it tries to lure Heathrow and Stansted cabin crew

British Airways is offering a £1,000 welcome bonus to new cabin crew, as the airline struggles to recruit new staff.

The aviation industry was badly hit during the Covid pandemic, with British Airways (BA) forced to ground flights as people were banned from travelling abroad for almost a year.

In April 2020 during the first lockdown, the airline announced it was making 12,000 staff redundant - blaming the effect of Covid on the industry.

The airline has, alongside many other carriers, struggled to recover, being blighted by staff shortages due to Covid, as well as technical problems.

But as it gears up for what is expected to be the busiest summer since pre-pandemic, the airline has launched a massive recruitment drive in an attempt to lure workers back to cabin crew roles.

As part of the new recruitment strategy, cabin crew applying for roles at Heathrow and London Stansted are being offered a welcome bonus of £1,000 as part of a package of benefits.

It says employees will be paid the bonus in two instalments - £500 after the first three months and then another £500 after six months in the role. 

But those who apply must already have an airside ID for Heathrow or London Stansted, as the company tries to fast track cabin crew through the recruitment process.

It says crew can expect to take to the skies by May 2022, two months before the busiest summer holiday season for two years is expected to get underway.

According the advertisement, crew are able to earn up to £28,000 a year, alongside other benefits.

The airline has been blighted by problems in the last few months. Earlier this month BA passengers were left with long delays and dozens of flight cancellations caused by staff shortages.

The airline cancelled at least 98 flights to or from Heathrow on one day alone, blaming the shortages on workers off sick with Covid.

And those problems are expected to continue over the Easter bank holiday weekend, affecting families heading abroad, many for the first time since coronavirus restrictions were dropped.

In February, hundreds of BA passengers were left queuing at the entrance of Heathrow's Terminal 5 after the airline suffered a major technical outage. British Airways cancelled all short-haul flights and many more were delayed, with the firm blaming the chaos on a hardware issue.