Around 2,500 people are to lose their jobs as two major airlines announced cutbacks in a bid to halt their economic losses.
This is part of a wave of redundancies taking place across the UK, which has meant that many have sought to get credit in order to cope with mounting debt.
At a time when lenders and banks are tightening their belts, many have turned to credit cards and loans in order to manage debt and gain a credit score, which could help improve their credit rating.
In addition to making 1,700 redundancies, British Airways (BA) will enforce a two-year pay freeze throughout its workforce and Aer Lingus will make nearly 800 redundancies, with further job losses possible.
Andrew Clarke, air transport policy advisor to the European Regions Airline Association (ERA), said: "The circumstances for the air transport industry – certainly for our sector – remain the worst we have experienced in the post-war era."
Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed the employment rate and the number of people in employment have fallen.
