The UAE economy is still receiving more blows in light of the continuous decline in the country due to the Coronavirus pandemic “Covid-19”, in addition to the threats issued by a number of international economic organizations and bodies, such as the London Bullion Market Association, to place the UAE in the blacklist of countries due to Its money laundering activity.
In the context of the economic recession that the UAE is suffering from over the past few years, and the pandemic has worsened it, Emirates Airlines announced, on Thursday, that it had incurred a loss of $ 3.4 billion in the first half of the year. This is due to the Coronavirus crisis, which prompted its holding company to record a semi-annual loss for the first time in more than 30 years.
The airline, which temporarily suspended operations this year, recorded a 75% drop in revenue to $ 3.2 billion. According to Al Jazeera Net.
“Due to these unprecedented conditions affecting the aviation and travel sector, the Emirates Group recorded semi-annual losses for the first time in more than 30 years,” the company said in a statement issued by the CEO.
Etihad Airways lay off its employees
Reuters said that an internal email showed that Etihad Airways notified cabin crew about new layoffs scheduled for this week, and a company source said that it had been decided not to operate the airline’s giant Airbus A380 fleet “indefinitely” after its recovery Slower than expected to order.
In the e-mail seen by Reuters, the company informed the hospitality staff that the concerned parties would be notified of the decision within 24 hours, without mentioning how many would lose their jobs.
This comes a few days after a similar notification was sent to pilots working for the Abu Dhabi government-owned company.
Etihad Airways has already cut the number of jobs and salaries after deepening losses this year.
The letter stated that Etihad would become a much smaller airline; As demand for air travel has not recovered at the required speed, which means that the company’s workforce has grown beyond its needs.
A source in the company stated that it is expected that up to a thousand of the hospitality crew will be laid off, including heads of staff and managers, and the number of employees in the company’s hospitality crews reached about 4,800 until last February.
In a second email, sent on Wednesday, the union informed the rest of the staff that the hospitality crew was still redundant; But the company added that it would deal with that situation with an unpaid leave program.
The source said that the CEO of the company, Tony Douglas, informed the employees that the A380 would remain in operation “indefinitely.” The company has stopped operating the plane since last March. Due to the sharp drop in demand due to the pandemic.
Etihad Airways said last week that it would press ahead with plans to downsize it, to become a medium-sized carrier, focused on its wide-body fleet, raising questions about the future of the 30 slim-bodied Airbus A320 aircraft it owns.
The losses of the UAE aviation sector reflect the extent to which the economy has been affected by the Corona pandemic, in light of the deterioration in other key sectors such as real estate, tourism and investment.
