How one airline’s pandemic hurt becomes everyone’s pain

After more than a decade working at Manchester Airport in the northwest of England, Tracey Moore finally got the job she wanted — at Virgin Atlantic’s passenger check-in desk. Then, at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 22, after about a year on the job and months on furlough, she returned to the airport and handed in her uniform.

She had taken a buyout and left her dream job.

“I’ve fought hard to get onto Virgin and that’s why I think I’m more upset,” Moore said. Devastated by how the pandemic had hollowed out the air travel industry, Moore took the buyout because she figured her hours and her pay would be cut, if she wasn’t one of the people eventually laid off.