Emirates airline will fire up to 9,000 employees jobs due to the novel coronavirus that has rocked the job industry and left millions jobless. The airline’s president, Tim Clark has said that it could take up to four years for operations to return to “some degree of normality” making the layoffs necessary.
The outlook for air travel demand even after the pandemic is contained still seems grim. “This crisis could have a very long shadow,” Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general, said. “Passengers are telling us that it will take time before they return to their old travel habits.”
Before the crisis hit, Emirates employed some 60,000 staff, including 4,300 pilots and nearly 22,000 cabin crew, according to its annual report.
Now, Clark has revealed in an interview with the BBC that the airline has already cut a tenth of its staff and that Emirates “will probably have to let go of a few more, probably up to 15 pc”.
“Like other airlines and travel companies, Covid-19 has hit us hard, and as a responsible business, we simply must right-size our workforce in line with our reduced operational requirements,” the spokeswoman said. “We continue to take every possible action to reduce costs, restore revenue streams, and preserve jobs.”
The Dubai-based airline is the first world’s biggest long-haul carrier to disclose how many jobs will be lost.
Locally, the Kenya Airways management is facing a decision-making crisis as a split in its board on the decision to send home 182 pilots and more than 400 cabin crew. The move that has been stopped by the High Court.
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