Paris (AFP)

The coronavirus pandemic is rocking many economic sectors, at the forefront of which are aviation, automotive and distribution, which are facing bankruptcies and cascading social plans all over the world.

Cases involving large companies are only the tip of the slump. The pandemic has also put in difficulty a multitude of smaller companies (traders, craftsmen, subcontractors ...) and silently destroyed many precarious jobs (temporary workers, fixed-term contracts ...).

- Turbulence in the air -

With its planes nailed to the ground, the sector was hit hard.

Several companies have already declared themselves bankrupt. The Colombian company Avianca (20,000) and the Australian giant Virgin Australia (10,000) are resounding examples.

Certain subsidiaries of LATAM, the main Latin American company (42,000 employees), have placed themselves under the protection of Chapter 11 of American law to avoid going out of business.

Smaller airlines, such as the South African South African Airways and Comair, the British Flybe and four subsidiaries of Norwegian Air Shuttle, were also taken.

Other companies are holding to the price of drastic cuts in their workforce: at least 19,000 job cuts announced by Air Canada, 12,000 at British Airways, 10,000 for the American Delta Air Lines, 5,000 for the Scandinavian SAS or 4,500 at the British EasyJet.

Cuts also at the American United Airlines (3,450 executive jobs), the British Virgin Atlantic (3,150 jobs), the Irish Ryanair (3,250) and Aer Lingus (900), Icelandair (2,000), Kuwait Airways (1,500), Brussels Airlines (1,000), Israeli El Al (1,000), Hungarian Wizz Air (1,000) and Fiji Airways (758).

On the manufacturers side, Boeing plans to cut 16,000 jobs, the Canadian Bombardier 2,500, while the American engine manufacturers General Electric and British Rolls-Royce will respectively cut 12,600 and 9,000 jobs.

Some states are trying to limit the damage: Germany has flown to the aid of Lufthansa (nine billion euro plan) and Condor (550 million), France and the Netherlands have done the same with Air France-KLM (9 to 11 billion), Italy has opted for the nationalization of Alitalia.

The United States has released 50 billion dollars (45.6 billion euros) for civil aviation, France 15 billion euros for the aeronautics sector.

Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong), Easyjet, Swiss and Edelweiss (Switzerland), Air New Zealand, Singapore Airline, Garuda (Indonesia) and Austrian Airlines also received public support.

- The affected automobile -

The announcement of 15,000 job cuts at Renault and the bankruptcy of the American rental company Hertz in North America are the two main indicators of the crisis in the automobile industry.

These are not isolated cases. Nissan will close a factory employing 3,000 people in Barcelona, ​​Volvo Cars will cut 1,300 executive positions in Sweden, British manufacturers McLaren, Bentley and Aston Martin respectively 1,200, 1,000 and 500 jobs, the British chain of dealers Lookers 1,500.

As for equipment manufacturers, French Novares has been placed in receivership and Hutchinson (Total) wants to cut a thousand jobs in France.

- Bankruptcies in distribution -

The pandemic was fatal to many brands, suffocated by containment measures which forced them to close shops.

In France, clothing brands (André, Naf Naf, La Halle, Camaïeu, Orchestra-Prémaman ...) have been placed in receivership. In the United States, the clothing chains JC Penney and JCrew declared bankruptcy, as did the British chain Laura Ashley, famous for its floral prints. For some companies, already in difficulty, the Covid-19 was only an accelerator.

The pandemic also pushed the department stores of the American group Stage Stores and the British chain Debenams, the French furniture brand Alinéa and the British specialist in the rental and sale of BrightHouse home products, to bankruptcy.

As for the Slovenian appliance manufacturer Gorenje, it will cut 2,200 jobs.

- Other vulnerable sectors -

Energy, faced with a drop in demand, is also suffering. The British oil giant BP has announced that it will cut 10,000 jobs, the British supplier Ovo 2,600 and the Vallourec 900 group. The Texas group Diamond Offshore (drilling) and the American Whiting Petroleum Corporation (shale deposits) have filed for bankruptcy.

In catering, the British chains Carluccio's, Chiquito and Food and Fuel, and German Vapiano went bankrupt.

In digital, Uber (VTC reservation) plans to lay off 6,700 employees and its competitor Lyft nearly 1,000. Airbnb and TripAdvisor have announced the layoff of about 25% of their workforce.

The Swiss logistics group Kuehne + Nagel also plans to cut one in four jobs, more than 15,000 jobs.

The tour operator TUI plans to cut 8,000 jobs, despite obtaining a bridging loan of 1.8 billion euros guaranteed by the German state.

In humanitarian aid, the NGO Oxfam will close 18 offices and cut nearly 1,500 jobs.

© 2020 AFP