Coronavirus: Hong Kong Airlines to cut 250 flight attendants in stricken carrier’s latest round of redundancies
- City’s third-largest carrier tells employees extended grounding of planes during pandemic forced a rethink of staffing levels
- It had already slashed jobs and wages at the start of the crisis, far earlier than rivals
Hong Kong Airlines will cut 250 flight attendants in the latest round of coronavirus-related redundancies to hit the carrier and the local aviation sector.
Chris Birt, the airline’s director of service delivery, told staff in a memo on Friday that the company’s extended grounding of most planes and passenger flights had forced a rethink of its future staffing needs.
“These ongoing adjustments have not only drastically affected our revenue but also reduce our operating crew and staffing requirements in the foreseeable future,” the memo said.
“Following a review of our medium-term cabin crew requirements, we have made the very difficult decision to permanently reduce our cabin crew numbers.”
Confirming the cuts, a Hong Kong Airlines spokeswoman said: “The compensation package offered to all affected cabin crew will be in full compliance with the employee’s conditions of service and local labour laws.”
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