In more devastating news for a COVID-battered aviation sector, Emirates, one of the world's biggest long-haul airlines, has laid off pilots and cabin crew. Further, according to international media reports, the airlines has also gone for a 50 per cent pay cut for employees grade four and above, including those in equivalent grades, from July 1 till September 30.
Confirming the layoffs, an Emirates spokeswoman told Reuters: "Given the significant impact that the pandemic has had on our business, we simply cannot sustain excess resources and have to right size our workforce in line with our reduced operations," she said. A majority of the laid off employees reportedly include trainee pilots and cabin crew.
The new measures have kicked in as the airlines is facing acute cash crunch caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. Reports said that the company plans thousands of additional job cuts.
According to the Reuters report, the workforce of 4,300 pilots and nearly 22,000 cabin crew at Emirates could shrink by almost a third from its pre-coronavirus levels.
Earlier, outgoing President Tim Clark said it could take four years for the airlines to resume flying to all of the 157 international destinations it served before the pandemic.
