BA planes sprayed with tonnes of foam in incident at Heathrow hangar

6 May 2020, 11:33

The planes were sprayed with several tonnes of foam
The planes were sprayed with several tonnes of foam. Picture: Twitter

By Asher McShane

British Airways planes at Heathrow were doused with fire-suppressing foam days after the company announced that up to 12,000 jobs were at risk because of the Covid-19 crisis.

Tons of frothy fire-retardant were sprayed on a Boeing 777 and 787 in a hangar at Heathrow over the weekend.

BA said the incident was “an accident” however there were claims that the act may have been carried out by disgruntled employees.

The airline blamed fire prevention systems on the mishap.

A BA spokesman said: “One of our fire prevention systems experienced a technical issue, causing foam to be dispersed."

On April 28, BA announced plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 42,000-strong workforce due to a collapse in business because of Covid-19.

The airline's parent company, IAG, said it needed to impose a "restructuring and redundancy programme" until demand returned.

BA chief executive Alex Cruz wrote in a letter to staff: "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."