About a 1,000 pilots and cabin crew working at Gatwick for the budget airline Norwegian are at the point of losing their jobs as Norwegian Air plans to close its long-haul operation and focus instead on a scaled-down European business as it seeks to contend with the coronavirus crisis and complete its debt restructuring.
The budget carrier said today.
The plan is subject to approval by an Irish bankruptcy court, it would cut Norwegian’s fleet to about 50 aircraft from the existing 140, the company said.
This will make about 1,100 UK workers redundant, along with a similar number in France, Italy, Spain and the US.
The firm says: “Future demand remains highly uncertain. Under these circumstances a long-haul operation is not viable for Norwegian and these operations will not continue.”
Its fleet of long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets has been grounded since March 2020 and will not fly again for the airline.
Passengers whose future bookings have now been cancelled “will be contacted directly and will be refunded,” the airline says..
Norwegian says: “The board of directors of the legal entities employing primarily long-haul staff in Italy, France, the UK and the US have contacted insolvency practitioners.”
Jacob Schram, the airline’s chief executive, said: “It is with a heavy heart that we must accept that this will impact dedicated colleagues from across the company.
“I would like to thank each one of our affected colleagues for their tireless dedication and contribution to Norwegian over the years.”
Norwegian plans to operate 50 Boeing 737 aircraft in 2021, increasing to 70 in 2022.
Mr Schram said: “We do not expect customer demand in the long haul sector to recover in the near future, and our focus will be on developing our short haul network as we emerge from the reorganisation process.
“Our short-haul network has always been the backbone of Norwegian and will form the basis of a future resilient business model.”
Brian Strutton, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa), said: “This news will be personally devastating for all Gatwick-based crew.
“The airline has struggled in the face of the ongoing Covid crisis, despite the combined efforts of all the company’s recognised trade unions, who have worked tirelessly to remain flexible and accommodating.
“This is further evidence that the jobs death spiral I’ve been highlighting for months sadly continues. Make no mistake – aviation remains in serious crisis.”
But since the carrier rejected a £1bn offer from British Airways’ parent company, IAG, it has floundered financially – and has been extremely hard hit by the effective shutdown of travel as a result of Covid-19.
Source: independent.co.uk