The international travel behemoth Emirates announced that the airline will introduce company-wide job cuts, reads a statement released by the Dubai government, citing an Emirates spokesperson.
The representative noted that despite the fact that it has slowly returned to the skies during these difficult times, the “pandemic has impacted many industries around the world.” While the airline tried to sustain its current employee number, after a review of “all possible” scenarios, in order to survive as a business, the airline has chosen to “say goodbye to a few” people that worked at Emirates.
“We continuously are 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.”
The airline has not indicated how many people will be made redundant. Earlier reports stated that the Dubai-based carrier was looked at cutting 30,000 jobs out of its total 105,000 headcount, including the retirement of 46 Airbus A380 jets. Currently, Emirates operates 115 double-deckers.
AeroTime News approached Emirates for comment.
Dampened demand for up to four years?
Tim Clark, the president of the airline, stated that he sees demand returning by 2022/2023 or 2023/2024. Clark predicts that it is when things would come back to “some degree of normality and Emirates will be operating its network as it was,” with the hope that success would also return to the airline.
“There could be an uptick if a vaccine for the new coronavirus is found. But the next six to nine months will be tough for the airline industry,” Clark stated at an online webinar.
New orders for the airline would be not coming in, Clark noted, as the priority right now is “about surviving the present.” Emirates is still awaiting the delivery of eight Airbus A380. The remaining eight double-deckers were at the center of a mill full of rumors. Reportedly, the airline looked at not taking up five jets, which were already under assembly. In an interview with Financial Times, however, Clark denied the rumor.
The flag carrier of Dubai also has 50 Airbus A350 XWB and 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on order. Both types are due to enter Emirates’ fleet in 2023.