DUBAI: Emirates laid off more pilots and cabin crew today in a second day of redundancies at one of the world's biggest long-haul airlines, three company sources said.
An Emirates spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the airline's statement on Tuesday that said some employees had been laid off. No further details were provided.
The Dubai-based carrier laid off hundreds of pilots and cabin crew on Tuesday in a bid to stave off a cash crunch caused by the coronavirus pandemic, sources told Reuters.
More redundancies were expected this week, including both Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 pilots, the sources said on Tuesday.
Those who lost their jobs were told their positions had been made redundant, the sources said.
Aviation is one of the industries worst hit by the fallout from the virus outbreak, with airlines around the world laying off staff and seeking government bailouts.
The state carrier had said in May a promise by the Dubai government to provide Emirates with new equity would allow it to "preserve its skilled workforce."
Emirates has since said it could take it up to four years to resume flights to all 157 destinations it flew to before the pandemic.
The airline has operated limited, mostly outbound services from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since grounding passenger flights in March, but is due to restart some connecting flights this month after the UAE lifted a suspension.
Emirates Group, the state holding company that includes the airline, has also seen lay offs at its airport services company dnata.
In another development, Finnair launched a share sale today to raise €500 million (RM2.4 billion) from its existing investors, almost as much as its current market value as it seeks to strengthen its finances to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
Finnair, which is 55.8% state-owned, has said it was losing about €2 million a day as 90% of its flights were grounded, and has warned it could take two to three years for air traffic to recover to 2019 levels.
The airline, which has issued two profit warnings this year, last month received state and bank guarantees for a €600 million loan and said it was implementing a funding plan that included drawing on available credit lines, as well as sales and leasebacks of planes.
"To achieve the goals of the company despite the exceptional circumstances, Finnair considers it prudent to seek to strengthen its balance sheet," it said in a statement.
Shareholders will receive one subscription right for each share, entitling them to subscribe for ten offer shares for €0.40 each, it said.
At 0820 GMT, Finnair shares were up 2.3% at €4.17.
As a result of the fully underwritten offering, the total number of the shares will increase from 128.1 million to a maximum of 1.4 billion.
Analysts noted the significant dilution for shareholders that decide not to take part in the offering.
Finland has committed to the issue and banks managing the offer have committed to subscribe to any rights left by shareholders. – Reuters
