Airlines were accused of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to slash jobs and workers' pay today.
British Airline Pilots' Association general secretary Brian Strutton told MPs carriers were “egging the pudding too much to take advantage of the crisis”.
British Airways came under heavy attack during a two-hour session of the cross-party Commons Transport Select Committee.
There were also hints passengers could boycott the carrier if potential fliers were unhappy with BA's actions.
BA is among several airlines planning redundancies as the aviation industry battles the Covid-19 crisis.
Planes across the globe were effectively grounded as lockdown and travel restrictions were imposed.
Ryanair plans 3,000 jobs losses and to cut staff pay by up to a fifth.
Virgin Atlantic plans to cut more than 3,000 jobs and shut its operations at Gatwick Airport.
BA has announced plans to axe 12,000 posts – more than a quarter of its workforce – and senior BA cabin crew face a 55% pay cut under a proposed new contract.
IAG, which owns British Airways, claims it does not expect demand for air travel to recover before 2023, while Gatwick Airport has said it could take up to four years.
But Mr Strutton told MPs: "I believe that airlines are exaggerating the problem.
"The predictions that some of the airline leaders are saying, of up to a five or six-year recovery, is not in line with industry standard predictions.
"Last week, the International Air Transport Association – which is usually the touchstone for these things – issued its new projections and said that by the end of 2022 we would be back to 2019 levels.
"We're in a trough at the moment, we will be coming out of it over the next two-and-a-half years, and I think that airlines are egging the pudding too much to take advantage of the crisis to make changes and downsize their workforce unnecessarily."
Unite union assistant general secretary Diana Holland told the committee she was "extremely concerned" about the industry's future.
She said: "If there isn't revenue coming in to the industry it's not just the airlines , it's the airports, it's everything down the line and of course all the people that work there.
"We are extremely worried about the future, and that's why we need to come together now to look at what plan we have to restart, to rebuild confidence and to make sure that jobs, pay terms and conditions – while there maybe temporary changes as we reach that point – aren't decimated for the future.”
Ms Holland admitted there may be "temporary changes" to jobs, pay, terms and conditions, but stressed they must not be "decimated for the future".
Conservative MP Chris Loder said Government support to BA was being used “as a buffer in order to allow them to progress considerable numbers of redundancies”.
Labour's Sam Tarry said: “We see a parent company that has assets in the region of £10billion, we see a company that has thousands of staff on furlough.”
He accused the firm of using the crisis to “restructure the company”.
Mr Tarry urged the Government to tell BA to “hand back the British flag because they don't seem able to be supporting British jobs, able to represent our country globally”.
Committee chairman Huw Merriman accused BA of an “opportunist an underhand approach to their workforce”.
Aviation Minister Kelly Tolhurst told MPs "I've spoken with representatives at BA and obviously I've expressed my disappointment."
She added: "I think the British public will make their own views on the actions of certain airlines."
Ms Tolhurst admitted “any announcement around job losses or consultation round redundancies or terms and conditions is deeply worrying”.
She insisted the threat of job losses "keeps me awake at night".
"I am under no illusions to the impact and the concern that those individuals will be feeling at that time, and what the consequences could be for some of them,” she said.
"But ultimately we need to work together as an industry and internationally, in order to get our planes up and flying again, our airports working, and also keeping our workforce in work."
A BA spokesman said: “We are acting now to protect as many jobs possible.
“The airline industry is facing the deepest structural change in its history, as well as facing a severely weakened global economy.
“We are committed to consulting openly with our unions and our people as we prepare for a new future.”
