Emirates Resolves To Cut UP To 9,000 Jobs

Emirates airline has resolved to reduce its workforce by 15 percent. The Middle East giant which had not disclosed the magnitude of any workforce cuts before now says 9,000 of its 60,000 positions will be redundant. Its president said yesterday.

The Dubai based carrier, which operates a fleet of 270 wide-bodied aircraft, halted operations in late March as part of global shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus.
It resumed two weeks later on a limited network and plans to fly to 58 cities by mid-August, down from about 157 before the crisis.
However, its president Tim Clark has said previously that it could take up to four years for operations to return to “some degree of normality”, and the airline has been staging rounds of layoffs, as recently as last week, without disclosing numbers.

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. Clark said in an interview with the BBC that the airline had already cut a tenth of its staff and that Emirates “will probably have to let go of a few more, probably up to 15 percent”.

These latest moves only serve to demonstrate that Emirates is not immune to the economic impact of COVID-19. But, Sir Tim, made it clear that his airline is not doing as badly as other carriers.
Indeed, Air Canada had to layoff over half of its workforce, shrinking its 38,000 employees to around 18,000.
Other airlines have had to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the United States, seeking debt protection and relief from creditors. These airlines have mainly been located in South America and include Aeromexico, LATAM, and Avianca. On the other side of the globe, Thai Airways has also been going through its own bankruptcy proceedings in recent months.

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