Tech & Biz

Airline Layoffs: Ryanair, Virgin, Scandinavian

by Jordan Yerman | February 12, 2009 at 11:02 am

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Scandinavian Airlines will cut 3,000 jobs, or 20% of its workforce. Additionally, 2,600 more jobs will be lost to restructuring and outsourcing.

Also, the airline will suspend its Copenhagen-Beijing flight.

After the culling, SAS’s current staff of 23,000 people will be trimmed to 14,000.

"Removing capacity from the long-haul fleet is vital to reduce the risk and financial exposure of SAS operations in this downturn," SAS said in a statement.

Budget European airline Ryanair will cut 200 jobs from its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, including pilots and cabin crew, as planes are also removed from service.

Ryanair said it will scrap 200 jobs at its Dublin base, seek pay cuts from workers and remove four planes from the fleet.

Virgin Atlantic is also considering layoffs, with 600 jobs in the cross-hairs.

"We are keeping our staff fully informed and will be working closely with staff and union representatives in order to find ways to protect as many jobs as possible and avoid compulsory redundancies," a spokesman said.

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Sebfree

at 12:31 on February 12th, 2009

Taken at "Air Spectacular" air show in 1989 during a high speed pass near the crowd at an altitude of about 150 ft.

Ryanair was a small emerging airline at the time and few thought it would grow to be the worlds biggest, however even the biggest has been hit by the worldwide economic crisis.

Sebfree has contributed a photo to this story.