Up to 900 jobs are to be cut at Aer Lingus. It comes just hours after Ryanair announced the loss of 3,000 jobs, as the industry struggles to cope with the impact of Covid-19.
Aer Lingus met with unions this morning to tell them it needs to reduce its head count by up to 20 per cent due the collapse in demand for air travel.
Aer Lingus employs 4,500 thousand people, meaning up to 900 jobs are at risk. The airline is putting together a proposal for a voluntary redundancy scheme, which will then be put to unions.
In a brief statement, Aer Lingus says its continuing to communicate directly with its employees and engage with their representative bodies.
It follows the news that Ryanair has said it expects up to 3,000 jobs to be lost as part of a restructuring of the airline.
The budget airline group announced that a restructuring programme could also involve unpaid leave and pay slashed by up to 20%, as well as the closure of “a number of aircraft bases across Europe” until demand for air travel recovers.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary, whose pay was cut by 50% for April and May, has agreed to extend the reduction for the remainder of the financial year to March 2021.
Ryanair said its flights will remain grounded until “at least July” and passenger numbers will not return to 2019 levels “until summer 2022 at the earliest”.
