Emirates Resumes Staff Lay-Offs

Dubai’s Emirates said the Covid-19 pandemic has forced it to ‘right size’ its workforce in line with reduced operational requirements

Dubai’s Emirates airline has been forced to lay off more pilots and cabin crew as a result of the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the airline has confirmed to sister title Arabian Business.

In a statement sent to Arabian Business, an Emirates spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are still in the process of implementing the redundancy exercise across our group, as previously communicated.

“While we have slowly restarted operations wherever it is safe and commercially viable, our footprint today is significantly smaller than before and it will take a while for us to recover to pre-pandemic levels,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said Emirates was forced to let staff go because of the airline’s current reduced operations.

“Like other airlines and travel companies, Covid-19 has hit us hard, and as a responsible business, we simply must right-size our workforce in line with our reduced operational requirements.

“Our people have always been a big contributing factor to our success, so this is not an action that we relish, nor one that we take lightly. We continue to take every possible action to reduce costs, restore revenue streams, and preserve jobs,” the spokesperson said

In early June, it was reported that the airline laid of more than 1,000 employees, including 700 cabin crew and 600 pilots, most of whom flew the superjumbo A380 aircraft or were in training for type-rating the aircraft.

“Our people have always been a big contributing factor to our success, so this is not an action that we relish, nor one that we take lightly,” the spokesperson added on Thursday. “We continue to take every possible action to reduce costs, restore revenue streams, and preserve jobs.”

In May it was reported that Emirates plans to cut as 30,000 jobs, or 30% of its workforce, as the world’s largest long-haul carrier struggles to preserve cash amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has severely impacted airlines around the world.

Wole Shadare