The carrier, who laments a huge loss despite a €3.4bn bailout by the Dutch government said the cuts through the end of 2021 were necessary for its planned restructuring.
KLM-Air France are among a host of European airlines given state support to get through the pandemic.
The cuts would involve about 1,500 compulsory layoffs from KLM’s current workforce of 33,000, the airline said.
There would also be 2,000 voluntary redundancies announced earlier this year, while further cuts would be made through non-renewal of 1,500 temporary contracts.
“KLM is in the throes of a crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Expectations are that the road to recovery will be long and fraught with uncertainty,” KLM said in a statement.
“This means that KLM’s structure and size must be rigorously adjusted even further in the years ahead. Consequently, a total of 4,500 to 5,000 positions in the entire KLM Group will cease to exist.”
The jobs lost would involve up to 300 flight crew, 300 cabin crew, 500 ground staff, and about 400 jobs at KLM subsidiaries and in the Air France-KLM group positions.
"We would keep open the possibility of further reductions due to the high level of uncertainty in the airline business due to the pandemic, with demand not expected to recover until 2023 or 2024". The Airline said.
“It is incredibly difficult and sad for KLM to now have to bid farewell to valuable, committed colleagues,” KLM CEO Pieter Elbers said in the statement.
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