The corona pandemic is hitting airlines hard. The British Airways mother puts thousands of jobs at risk. Icelandair and the Scandinavian SAS also announce drastic cuts.
London (dpa) - The British Airways mother IAG made a billion-dollar loss in the first quarter due to the coronavirus crisis and is considering cutting up to 12,000 jobs.
Since it will probably take years for passenger demand to reach 2019 levels again, the company plans to talk to unions about restructuring. It is initially about proposals for talks, said IAG on Tuesday in London. But most of the 45,000 employees are likely to be affected.
In a letter to the workforce, British Airways CEO Alex Cruz wrote: "In the past few weeks, the outlook for the aerospace industry has worsened and we need to take action now." Many crises have survived in the company's 100-year history. "We have to overcome this crisis ourselves," said Cruz.
The loss adjusted for special effects amounted to 535 million euros between January and March, according to IAG. A year earlier, the company had made an operating profit of 135 million euros. There was initially no information on the bottom line. The loss is likely to be significantly higher in the current second quarter, warned IAG. In addition to the operating loss, currency and kerosene price hedging transactions are currently subject to a charge of 1.3 billion euros, it said.
Consolidated sales fell 13 percent year-on-year to EUR 4.6 billion in the first three months. The group plans to present detailed figures on May 7. At the end of March, the group had funds of 9.5 billion euros, of which 6.95 billion euros as cash. In addition to British Airways, IAG also includes the airlines Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level.
British Airways had already released tens of thousands of employees in early April due to the Corona crisis. The airline has around 4,500 pilots and 16,000 cabin crew. In addition there are ground staff and technology. The pilot union Balpa announced to fight for the preservation of every single job.
IAG is not alone with the job reduction plans. The Scandinavian airline SAS and the Icelandic airline Icelandair also announced drastic cuts on Tuesday. SAS wants to cut the number of staff almost in half in the course of the Corona crisis by up to 5000 jobs. The reason for this is the lower demand for flights. The move is said to affect around 1900 full-time employees in Sweden, 1700 in Denmark and 1300 in Norway.
"Covid-19 has forced SAS to face a new and unprecedented reality that will reverberate not only in the coming months but also in the coming years," said SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson. The company had temporarily taken up to 10,000 employees - around 90 percent of the workforce - during the Corona crisis.
Icelandair plans to cut around 2,000 jobs. This is a reaction to the serious situation that the pandemic has caused for the aviation and tourism industry. All areas of the company, but above all the crew, maintenance and ground operations are affected by the measure. Icelandair hopes to be able to offer those affected a job again as soon as the markets have recovered from the pandemic, said CEO Bogi Nils Bogason. The majority of the remaining employees should therefore continue to work part-time, the salaries of full-time employees will be reduced.
Communication IAG
