Aer Lingus (EI/EIN) has said that it will be cutting up to 500 jobs as it deals with the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic that has affected airlines around the world.
In a statement, it said that it had formally notified Ireland’s Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection of proposed collective redundancies at Aer Lingus.
The airline described the affect of the Coronavirus pandemic on the airline as “catastrophic” and said it was not certain when it would return to anywhere near normal operations.
Aer Lingus is currently operating less than 5% of its normal flights.
The airline was also critical of the Irish government saying: “Ireland has failed to take steps that other European Member States have taken. They have progressively restored transport services and connectivity in response to a European Commission invitation to do so,”
It also singled out the 14-day quarantine rule as being detrimental to recovery.
Aer Lingus’ Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Donal Moriarty told staff in a video message that the job losses will come from almost all areas of the company including inflight services, ground operations maintenance & engineering staff as well as head office staff.
In response the Irish Union Fórsa said it would engage with the airline and would do all it can to minimise job losses.