Emirates Seeks To Avoid More Crew, Pilot Lay-Offs With Unpaid Leave

Emirates airline is offering its pilots and crew up to four months of unpaid leave in a bid to keep its workforce primed for when the industry and air travel demand begins to normalise.

Dubai’s state-owned carrier has laid off thousands of crew and pilots in recent weeks because of the impact the pandemic has had on the demand for air travel.

An internal email sent to pilots and crew said that employees, who have already had salaries cut, can take up to four months off between August and November.

“As a result of recent and unexpected travel restrictions imposed by some countries, an opportunity has arisen to offer our pilots and cabin crew unpaid leave. We have elected to offer this option as a short-term measure to reduce our resources,” the email said.

Emirates president Sir Tim Clark said earlier this month that the airline’s workforce is likely to be 15% smaller than pre-pandemic levels, meaning 9,000 positions in total would in theory be lost.

In an interview with Business Insider, Sir Tim said that Emirates’ management is reviewing the staffing situation weekly.

Almost all of Emirates’ workforce is made up of expatriates who have moved to the UAE to work for the airline, meaning if they lose their job then they are likely to also lose their visa and have to return to their home country.

“We are very, very alive to the fact that this is hugely difficult for the workforce because predominantly they’re expatriate and they’re not in their country of domicile, which means they have to be repatriated to where they come from, and a situation which is pretty stark in terms of future employment,” Sir Tim told Business Insider.

He said that the airline is ready to rehire staff rapidly when demand starts to improve.

“If things pick up again sooner rather than later, we will bring them back so quickly their feet won’t touch the ground.”

Wole Shadare