Despite managing to grow its network to more than 120 destinations around the world even amidst ever-tightening travel restrictions prompted by a second wave of the Covid pandemic, Qatar Airways says it will be forced to lay off even more employees over the coming weeks.
During the first wave, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker told local television in Doha the airline had made around 15 per cent of its worldwide workforce redundant in order to cut costs in the face of plummeting demand for air travel.
In the next round of redundancies, Al Baker predicted that the airline would have to trim its workforce by a further 5 per cent. The redundancies will be in the thousands but Al Baker claims layoffs are significantly less than other airlines, especially regional rivals including the Dubai-based Emirates
“Every single airline has laid off people in very large numbers because large amounts of the fleet has been grounded,” Al Baker told Qatar TV. “When you look at [it] proportionality on Qatar Airways, we have done the minimum reduction.”
“We have to take mitigating action to let our airline survive and to make sure that the remaining people that are in the company are looked after,” he continued.
Al Baker did, however, promise to give priority to redundant staffers when the airline is in a position to start hiring again. The airline was not able to say when that might restart recruitment although former employees in Saudi Arabia and the UAE were recently invited back after a near three-year blockade was lifted.
Qatar Airways is now operating around 80 per cent of its aircraft fleet but schedules are still much reduced compared to before the pandemic and passenger loads remain suppressed.
QA let go more then 50% of its workforce , on all levels! There was 14k crew members before pandemic, now there is around 7-8k. Still not allowing crew members to visit each other(since May), even though restrictions have been lifted in Doha long time ago. So him describing company as a savior of jobs, carrying about their mental health and so on , nothing but a good PR!
This one big change in employees
Many people are waiting jobs in any where so I think good desion.