Middle East Airline Emirates has asked several of its pilots to go on unpaid leave, while Qatar Airways reportedly has laid off around 200 of its Filipino staff in Doha as coronavirus continues to bite into the profits of airline companies across the world. Airline companies across the world have been cancelling flights for the past more than two months following the coronavirus spread.
Coronavirus has been biting into the profits of businesses across the globe. The global travel and tourism industry seems to be affected the most, with airlines companies almost battered by the growing travel restrictions imposed by different governments.
Emirates asks employees to take unpaid leaves
Emirates, the state-owned airlines of United Arab Emirates, has been cancelling hundreds of its flights over the past couple of months as governments continue to impose travel restrictions and passengers dumping travel plans following the deadly coronavirus outbreak. According to internal staff emails accessed by Reuters, the airline has offered many of its pilots and cabin crew unpaid leave.
An e-mail from the company to its employees, which was accessed the news agency, read: "You are strongly encouraged to make use of this opportunity to volunteer for additional paid and unpaid leave." Emirates is one of the biggest airline companies in the world and boasts a staff strength of 100,000 that comprises around 4,000 pilots, as of March 2019. The airlines apparently has also told its staff that coronavirus is perhaps the biggest challenge the company has ever faced.
Qatar Airways lays off staff
Although the exact cause of the reported lay off is yet to be ascertained, it is likely that slowing traffic and flight cancellations that is hurting the airline company amid the virus outbreak are the possible reasons. Qatar Airways had earlier warned that it could report a third straight loss this financial year, which is now more likely given the loss the carrier has incurred in the ongoing quarter following the cancellation of hundreds of its flights.
Emirates on the other hand has also stopped recruiting following the virus outbreak. Emirates and Qatar are among the many airline companies across the globe that have been requesting pilots and cabin crews to go on unpaid leaves. The aviation industry has been battered by the coronavirus outbreak and many companies are now also looking up to the respective governments to come to their rescue once the virus spread is contained and eases out.
