Covid-19 impact: Dubai’s Emirates confirms staff layoffs

Dubai airline Emirates has laid off some of its employees due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it confirmed on Sunday.

Although the airline has gradually resumed flights, the “current crisis” has forced Emirates to reduce its workforce, Dubai Media Office said in a statement.

“The current pandemic has impacted many industries around the world and although we have endeavored to sustain the current family as is, we reviewed all possible scenarios in order to sustain our business operations, but have come to the conclusion that we unfortunately have to say goodbye to a few of the wonderful people that worked with us,” an Emirates spokesperson said.

“We are continuously reassessing the situation and will have to adapt to this transitional period.

“We do not view this lightly, and the company is doing everything possible to protect jobs wherever we can. Where we are forced to take tough decisions we will treat people with fairness and respect.”

Emirates did not specify the number of employees laid off. Earlier in May, Bloomberg reported that the airline was planning to cut 30,000 jobs – or about 30 per cent from its workforce of more than 105,000 at the end of March.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates says no announcement made on ‘mass redundancies’

“We will work with impacted employees to ensure they are looked after and taken care of with necessary means,” the spokesperson added.

Airlines across the globe are cutting jobs after the pandemic forced lockdowns across the world.

UAE carrier Etihad Airways also confirmed earlier this month that redundancies were made across several business divisions.

An Etihad spokesperson confirmed said: “The coronavirus pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to businesses around the world, and Etihad is no exception. It is clear the demand for travel in the near future will be significantly reduced and as a result we must make difficult decisions to ensure Etihad will weather this storm.”

Read: Etihad axes ‘hundreds of jobs’ across business divisions to weather Covid-19 impact

Kuwait Airways is also planning to lay off as many as 1,500 expatriate employees due to the impact of the pandemic, Bloomberg reported last week.

Read: Kuwait Airways plans cutting about 1,500 expatriate jobs