The latest victim in a sector in crisis, the Belgian airline Brussels Airlines, a Lufthansa subsidiary, plans to cut a quarter of its workforce, or around 1,000 jobs, in order to " ensure its survival " in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
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“ This unprecedented crisis has worsened our financial situation, forcing us to take important and essential measures. Restructuring is urgently needed in order to survive the current crisis , "company CEO Dieter Vranckx said on Tuesday after an extraordinary works council.
Its " recovery plan " presented in the morning provides for " a reduction in the fleet " from 54 to 38 planes, a drop of 30%. " The overall size of the company, and therefore its workforce, will be reduced by 25%, " said Brussels Airlines, which "will work with its social partners to reduce the number of forced dismissals to a minimum ".
" We do not want to sign a blank check " to management, reacted Didier Lebbe, of the CNE union on RTBF, asking for time to " digest " these announcements. A meeting was planned for the afternoon between the unions and several members of the Belgian government, including Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès.
In a tweet, the latter regretted " a difficult announcement " for company personnel and their families. Brussels Airlines hopes, with these job cuts, to be able to " develop profitably as soon as demand in air transport returns to a new normal, which is expected from 2023 ".
The company justifies these announcements by " the extremely negative impact of the coronavirus crisis on (its) finances " and " the still very weak demand for air travel ".
Since March 21 and the temporary suspension of all its flights, Brussels Airlines “ loses one million euros per day due to losses of income and costs which cannot be avoided, such as the costs of leasing and maintenance of his planes ”.
"Liquidation"
The whole sector is in a complete blur on the calendar for a possible resumption of flights while deconfinement is just beginning in several countries. Before Brussels Airlines, several companies had already announced job cuts, such as the British Virgin Atlantic (3,150 jobs) and British Airways (12,000), the Irish Ryanair (3,000) or the Scandinavian SAS (5,000).
For his part, the boss of Lufthansa, the leading European air transport group and parent company of Brussels Airlines, recently estimated that he had 10,000 extra employees in light of the crisis. Negotiations are underway between Lufthansa and Belgium for possible state aid, up to 290 million euros, according to the Belgian press.
The Belgian government is first waiting for a " clear signal " from the German giant on the future of its Belgian subsidiary, Finance Minister Alexander De Croo said on Tuesday. " It is necessary that a credible future plan be put on the table (...) We do not want a simple liquidation scenario, it is also necessary that there be investments ", he said. he adds.
Lufthansa is also negotiating aid worth billions of euros with the German state, which could in return make its return after more than 20 years of absence from the capital of the former public company. Brussels Airlines, the leading Belgian airline company, succeeded in 2002 the historic Sabena declared bankrupt the previous year. It claims annual turnover of 1.5 billion euros in 2018.
Lufthansa entered the capital in 2009 and, since January 2017, SN Airholding, which oversees Brussels Airlines, is wholly owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
