Abu Dhabi's Etihad lays off staff, warns of further cuts

A Boeing 777-FFX Cargo plane operated by the UAE’s Etihad Airways seen in Frankfurt, Germany on 8 September 2017 [Oliver Holzbauer/Flickr]

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has laid off a large number of employees due to the coronavirus pandemic that has shattered global travel demand and warned staff to brace for further cuts, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The state-owned airline declined to comment. But during a previously unreported US-UAE Business Council webinar on April 29, Etihad Chief Executive Tony Douglas said the airline had made “quite sizeable redundancies”.

It was not immediately clear how many employees had been affected or from which departments.

Etihad has grounded scheduled passenger flights and temporarily cut wages by as much as 50%. It has said it plans to restart flights from mid-June.

The company had 20,520 employees as of August 2019, according to its website.

READ: UAE’s Etihad extends suspension of scheduled flights to at least May 16

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