Air France to cut 1,500 jobs in attempt to limit coronavirus impact
Air France will cut 1,500 jobs by the end of 2022, union sources told AFP today, as the airline tries to limit damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
Only this morning AFP obtained an internal letter from the company saying that it would introduce a partial hiring freeze in order to cut costs at the airline.
The hit to passenger numbers from the COVID-19 virus “increased strongly since last week, with cancellations not only to China and Asia, but to destinations across our entire network,” Air France’s financial director, Steven Zaat, said in the letter.
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Last week the French flag carrier warned that the illness could wipe up to €200m (£167.4m) off earnings by April if flights to China remain suspended.
Like many global carriers, the Franco-Dutch group has cancelled flights to mainland China, which make up 5.5 per cent of its traffic, until the end of March.
The outbreak came just as Air France-KLM was expecting a pick-up in 2020 due to an easing of global trade tensions.
When sharing the results, finance chief Frederic Gagey told reporters: “That’s the hypothesis we’re using for the moment but we don’t know how credible it is. Obviously if [the coronavirus] lasts longer, the impact will be heavier.”
Morning Wire has contacted Air France for comment.