British Airways is set to make up to 12,000 workers redundant as it is expected to take “several years” for the airline industry to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, parent company IAG announced on Tuesday.

The airline, which employs 42,000 people, has suffered from the global collapse in passenger numbers caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s revenues plunged 13% in the first quarter of 2020, the Press Association reports.

In a letter to staff, BA chief executive Alex Cruz wrote: “In the last few weeks, the outlook for the aviation industry has worsened further and we must take action now.

“We are a strong, well-managed business that has faced into, and overcome, many crises in our hundred-year history. We must overcome this crisis ourselves, too.

“There is no government bailout standing by for BA and we cannot expect the taxpayer to offset salaries indefinitely. We will see some airlines go out of business.”

Around 4,500 pilots and 16,000 cabin crew work for BA.

IAG did not provide a breakdown of how many people in each role could be made redundant.

It announced the planned job cuts as it revealed that revenues plunged 13% to 4.6 billion euros (£4 billion) in the first three months of 2020 after the pandemic hit capacity.