Dutch airline KLM said Friday it would shed up to 5,000 jobs due to a “crisis of unprecedented magnitude” caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier, part of the Air France KLM group, said the cuts through the end of 2021 were necessary as it had made huge losses despite a 3.4-billion-euro ($4.0-billion) Dutch government bailout. “KLM is in the throes of a crisis of unprecedented magnitude… Expectations are that the road to recovery will be long and fraught with uncertainty,” KLM said in a statement. Consequently, a total of 4,500 to 5,000 positions in the entire KLM Group will cease to exist.”The jobs lost would involve up to 300 flight crew, 300 cabin crew, 500 ground staff and around 400 jobs at KLM subsidiaries and in the Air France-KLM group positions. KLM and Air France are among a host of European airlines given state support to get through the pandemic.

Source: Punch July 31, 2020 06:56 UTC