Norwegian viser sitt sanne ansikt i UK - Curt Lewis

 Pilots slam Norwegian Air over owed salaries following UK collapse

• Norwegian Air last month said it will close its UK arm, which employed 1,100 people at Gatwick Airport

Pilots have hit back at Norwegian Air after it emerged the airline will not pay outstanding salaries to laid-off staff following the collapse of its UK operations.

The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) today said staff were demanding answers as to why they had been left with “absolutely nothing”.

Norwegian Air last month announced it would shut down Norwegian Air Resources (NAR), its UK crewing business that employed 1,100 people at Gatwick Airport. KPMG has been formally appointed as liquidator to NAR.

But Balpa said employees had been told they would not be paid owed salary, holiday or notice pay despite recent assurances from Norwegian.

Instead staff will now need to claim part of their pay arrears from the government.

The pilots’ union also lambasted NAR for failing to have contingency plans in place for a potential liquidation and raised questions over a £10.5m debt it said was owed to the company by another part of the Norwegian group.

David Pike, partner at KPMG and joint liquidator to NAR, said: “Given this outcome and its impact on staff, our clear priority is to work with the employees and their representatives so that we can assist them with making claims to the Redundancy Payments Service, as well as assisting them in securing training records and other important information. 

“We will also continue to work with the Unions, including Unite and Balpa, to support their efforts and initiatives.”

The closure of Norwegian Air’s UK business came after the budget airline said it would halt long-haul flights in a bid to stay afloat after the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the airline industry.