Emirates prepares to cut 30,000 jobs, Regional express considers major city operations

Emirates is set to slash 30,000 jobs and speed up the retirement of its Airbus A380 fleet as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the airline’s finances.

• Researchers race to crack COVID code by September
• Stunning new claims over origins of COVID-19

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. 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,” the spokeswoman said.

Emirates Group is planning to cut about 30,000 jobs to reduce costs amid the coronavirus outbreak. Picture: AP

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.

It reported a 21 per cent rise in profit for its financial year ending March 31 but said the pandemic had hit its fourth-quarter performance.

REX CONSIDERS NEW MAJOR DOMESTIC ROUTES

Regional Express says it is considering operating between Australia’s major cities from early next year following Virgin Australia entering into voluntary administration.

The regional airline said on Wednesday it would need $200 million to start “domestic operations in Australia” and has been approached by several parties about providing the equity.

“At this juncture, the Rex Board believes that with sufficient capital injection, there is a confluence of circumstances which render the start of domestic operations by Rex to be a particularly compelling proposition,” the regional airline said.

Rex says it is considering operating between Australia’s major cities from early next year following Virgin Australia entering into voluntary administration. Picture: Brendan Radke

The company said it would make a decision whether or not to proceed within eight weeks, and if it did, the domestic operations would commence on March 1, 2021.

Rex has a fleet of 60 Saab 340 turboprop aircraft.

Before the pandemic it was flying 1,500 weekly flights to 59 destinations in regional Australia but since the virus crisis it has been flying just five routes in Queensland as part of a contract with the state government.

Originally published as Emirates prepares to cut 30,000 jobs, Regional express considers major city operations