Gulf Airlines Affected by Layoffs

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Some Gulf airlines are laying off and lowering the salaries of their staff. Faced with the crisis caused by the pandemic, the Emirates company is preparing for a new wave of layoffs among its pilots and its cabin crew. Qatar Airways, for its part, will also lay off some pilots and reduce the wages of others by up to 25%.

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The flagship of the rich little Gulf gas state, which served more than 170 destinations with 234 aircraft before the crisis, was hit hard by the brutal suspension of air traffic imposed worldwide to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, Qatar Airways will cut the wages of foreign pilots and lay off others, the airline said on Monday.

Drastic cuts in foreign pilots

Older foreign pilots "  will be subject to a 25% cut  " in wages while younger pilots will experience a 15% cut, wrote director of air operations Jassim al-Haroun in a letter dated June 4 which is addressed to them. "  These cuts to the basic salary will not be applied to Qatari nationals  ," he said. "  Many  " foreign pilots will also be dismissed "  in the coming weeks,  " said the director of flight operations.

The economy of Qatar, a major gas exporter, has been shaken by the global economic slowdown and the collapse in energy prices. Gulf airlines, which have experienced a meteoric rise in recent years, recruiting thousands of foreign employees, have been particularly affected by the global pandemic. Air traffic in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to decrease by at least half in 2020 due to this crisis, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

"  If the prices of oil [or gas, Editor's note] plunge, all the countries which derive their resources and the only resources of oil collapse," analyzes Bertrand Vilmer of the aeronautical expertise firm Icare. So the price of energy drops, the economies that feed on 90% of these energies have budgets that are at half mast. And the third reason is that there are no unions in these companies. It should also be noted that all these companies are run by Anglo-Saxons, so they are judged on the result, they have incentives, they have stock options. So, if the country is going badly, they are paid much less, or even landed. These companies are certainly managed with subsidies, but a little Anglo-Saxon. From the moment when the economies of these countries found themselves with such a scissor effect in terms of budget that they reduced their budget by two, even by three depending on the price of oil to come, the subsidies there it was no longer a question of giving them away. "

Emirates and Kuwait Airways also concerned

In late May, Emirates airline Dubai, the largest in the Middle East, announced its intention to cut jobs, without giving precise figures. The state-owned enterprise had made temporary cuts of 25 to 50% in the base salaries of most of its staff in March.

At the end of May, Kuwait Airways also announced the dismissal of around 1,500 expatriate employees, or 25% of its foreign staff.

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• Aeronautics
• Businesses
• Coronavirus
• Qatar
• United Arab Emirates
• Economic crisis
• Transport

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