Flight Centre prepares to cut 3,800 Australian jobs after airlines across the globe suspended travel amid coronavirus crisis
- Flight Centre to stand down over 3,000 Australian staff amid growing crisis
- Globally the company will stand down a total of 6,000 sales and support staff
- The move comes as Virgin Australia announce 1000 staff face redundancy
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Flight Centre will temporarily stand down 3,800 Australian workers as airlines across the globe suspend travel amid the coronavirus crisis.
The travel agency will also stand down a total of 6,000 support and sales staff across the company globally, either permanently or temporarily.
In a statement to the ASX on Thursday Flight Centre said travel restrictions and social-distancing meant staff levels were unsustainable.
Flight Centre will stand down 6,000 support and sales staff, 3,800 of which are Australians, as airlines across the globe suspend travel
‘These never-before-seen restrictions, which have forced airlines to ground their fleets and heavily reduce their flight schedules, have virtually halted travel demand and led to the stoppage of the vast proportion of work that Flight Centre’s people previously carried out,’ the statement read.
The company said it intends on returning temporarily stood down staff to the work force once restrictions have lifted and ‘demand increases’.
Over the last month transaction numbers for Flight Centre were between 20 and 30 per cent of regular levels.
In the meantime the company has engaged in discussions with employers to secure 10,000 call centre jobs they hope will go to their stood-down staff.
As the coronavirus crisis continues to escalate travel bans and airspace closures have seen more than 50 global airlines temporarily suspended.
On Thursday Virgin Australia said more than 1000 of 8000 workers asked to take leave in the face of the coronavirus will probably be made redundant.
The airline has asked 80 per cent of its 10,000 staff to take a mixture of holiday, long service leave and leave without pay.
‘Of the 8000 that we asked to stand down yesterday, there is probably going to be more than a 1000 of those (who) we do make redundant,’ Virgin Australia managing director Paul Scurrah told the ABC on Thursday.
‘This is the worst airline crisis the world has ever seen.’
Virgin Australia is also looking to redeploy staff to other companies – including major supermarkets and big banks – that need staff during the pandemic.
The announcement as Virgin Australia said more than 1000 of 8000 workers asked to take leave in the face of the coronavirus will probably be made redundant