Emirates Group is planning to cut about 30,000 jobs to reduce costs amid the coronavirus outbreak, which will bring down its number of employees by about 30 per cent from more than 105,000 at the end of March, Bloomberg News reports. The company is also considering speeding up the planned retirement of its A380 fleet, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.
An Emirates spokeswoman said that no public announcement has been made yet by the company regarding “redundancies at the airline” but that the company is conducting a review of “costs and resourcing against business projections”. “Any such decision will be communicated in an appropriate fashion,” the spokeswoman said. “Like any responsible business would do, our executive team has directed all departments to conduct a thorough review of costs and resourcing against business projections.”
Emirates, one of the world’s biggest long-haul airlines, said earlier this month that it will raise debt to help itself through the coronavirus pandemic, and may have to take tougher measures as it faces the most difficult months in its history. The state-owned airline, which suspended regular passenger flights in March due to the virus outbreak that has shattered global travel demand, had said that a recovery in travel was at least 18 months away.
