Continuing the streamlining process of its workforce amid tough times for the aviation industry, Emirates Airlines has again laid off more employees, including pilots and cabin crew, sources said.
In June, the Dubai-based airline major had laid off pilots and cabin crew. People in the know said that more such retrenchment measures are likely.
An Emirates spokesperson said: "We can confirm that we are still in the process of implementing the redundancy exercise across our Group, as previously communicated."
While the airline has slowly restarted operations wherever it is safe and commercially viable, the spokesperson said that its current footprint is significantly smaller than before and it will take a while for it to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Noting that like other airlines and travel companies, Covid-19 has hit the airline hard, the spokesperson said that as a responsible business, it must "right-size" its workforce in line with its reduced operational requirements.
"Our people have always been a big contributing factor to our success, so this is not an action that we relish, nor one that we take lightly. We continue to take every possible action to reduce costs, restore revenue streams, and preserve jobs," said the spokesperson.
The sector has been one of the worst hit during the pandemic and worldwide lockdown and several airlines have taken to job cuts. Several airlines globally have even gone bankrupt amidst the pandemic. Job losses and pay cuts have been prevalent across industries, with the travel industry expected to be one of the last industries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a circular extending the suspension on scheduled commercial international flight operations to and from India till July 31.
"However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis," the circular read.
Last month, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that re-commencement of international flight services will depend on factors like 'border acceptance' norms in the arriving country and the traffic demand. That time, he hinted at the prospects of bilateral bubble arrangements, which will allow some international operations between countries.
At present, healthy demand for evacuation flights have been witnessed in the North America-India sector.
Passenger air services were suspended on March 25 due to the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19, although domestic air services has resumed in a phased manner from May 25.