British Airways, owned by IAG, has been accused of a blatant fire and re-hire scheme after reports it wants to take on an extra 3,000 cabin crew.
The airline made 10,000 staff redundant last year, 4,700 of which were cabin crew said union Unite with those staying on forced to accept pay cuts of between 15% and 35%.
Unite said it now understands that BA is looking to hire around 3,000 new crew.
General secretary Sharon Graham said: “The creation of these new posts confirms what Unite said last year, there was never any need to sack thousands of dedicated BA staff.
"Last summer, British Airways became the first major employer to embark on the abhorrent practice of ‘fire and rehire’, sacking thousands of dedicated staff.
"Now, fewer than 12 months later BA is championing its intention to recruit thousands of new staff, insultingly even asking those crew it sacked needlessly last year to re-apply on substantially reduced terms and conditions.
"It is yet another bad faith act from a business that should be focusing on repairing both a tattered workforce and customer relations, not cutting yet more corners in order to reward the boardroom.”
Earlier this week the Telegraph reported that BA was reviving its plans to launch a new low-cost carrier from Gatwick having dropped them in September.
Pilots were offered a new set of terms and conditions on Monday after rejecting an original deal that would have seen some paid less than peers at other airlines.
BA said that it would continue with short-haul operations at Gatwick if operating costs were substantially reduced.