Emirates airlines announced to axe more staff

Emirates expected to cut 30% staff due to suspension of flight operations

The Emirates Airlines has announced to sack more staff as a result of economic impact of COVID-19. The Dubai owned and based airline did not mention the exact number of sackings. Like the other airlines in the world, Emirates suffered huge losses due to travel restrictions that forced to suspend operations.  The airline initially announced not to retrench staff and made cuts on wages.

The airlines around the world are facing difficult situation as the result of travel restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The situation is far more serious than it was after the 9/11. Airlines are on the brink of collapse and bankruptcies.  Many airlines have already announced sackings of staff to reduce the losses. The Emirates is following the same policy.

It seems that the initial estimates of airline management to start the operations went wrong. It might take months before the resumption of normal operation. Emirates airline is operation to just few destinations with reduced flights.  Now the airline has realised the situation and decided to take measures to deal with the situation.

 In a statement posted on the  airline’s website has said that “Although we have endeavored to sustain the current family as is, we reviewed all possible scenarios in order to sustain our business operations, but have come to the conclusion that we unfortunately have to say goodbye to a few of the wonderful people that worked with us.” No figures on how many people would be made redundant were given.

“We continuously are reassessing the situation and will have to adapt to this transitional period,” the statement added. “We do not view this lightly, and the company is doing everything possible to protect jobs wherever we can.”

The statement went on to say that Emirates will treat people with “fairness and respect” and work with impacted employees are “looked after and taken care of with necessary means”.

Earlier in May, Bloomberg reported that Emirates plans to eliminate as many as 30,000 jobs or 30 percent of its workforce, the deepest cuts yet in an airline industry severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Emirates airline was rapidly expanding its services to new destinations. It hired staff to further expand its destinations but COVID-19 pandemic cut across this rapid expansion and now the airline has been forced to retrench the staff. 

Emirates has already begun operating scheduled flight services to nine destinations around the world from May 21, including London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne. It is also taking bookings for flights from Dubai to a number of Arab countries from first week of July.

                                                                Business correspondent