Airlines Emirates to temporarily suspend most of its passenger flights

+++ Update 23.03.2020 - Emirates plans to continue operating certain passenger routes.

Emirates wrote: "Having received requests from governments and customers to support the repatriation of travellers, Emirates will continue to operate passenger and cargo flights to the following countries and territories until further notice, as long as borders remain open, and there is demand: the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, USA, and Canada. The situation remains dynamic, and travellers can check flight status on emirates.com." +++

 

Emirates Group has released, that – due to the COVID-19 outbreak – it has to temporarily suspend the most of its passenger operations as of March 25. The carrier claimed that it has aimed to maintain passenger flights for as long as feasible. Ground operations company dnata will also significantly reduce its operations.

The increasing number of travel bans, restrictions and country lockdowns however have forced the airline to quit operations for a certain period of time. Furthermore, the airline is reportedly struggling with its finances, therefore the carrier wants to preserve its business viability and secure jobs worldwide by grounding the whole passenger fleet. Emirates will implement a salary reduction for the majority of employees for three months.

To ensure the supply of important economies and communities, the links through Emirates Cargo will continue. This means, that vital international air cargo links will be maintained. Currently, Emirates Cargo operates with a fleet of eleven Boeing 777F.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Group commented: “The world has literally gone into quarantine due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is an unprecedented crisis situation in terms of breadth and scale: geographically, as well as from a health, social, and economic standpoint. Until January 2020, the Emirates Group was doing well against our current financial year targets. But COVID-19 has brought all that to a sudden and painful halt over the past 6 weeks.”

“As a global network airline, we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot viably operate passenger services until countries re-open their borders, and travel confidence returns. By Wednesday 25 March, although we will still operate cargo flights which remain busy, Emirates will have temporarily suspended most of its passenger operations. We continue to watch the situation closely, and as soon as things allow, we will reinstate our services," he added.

According to a statement, the cost reduction measures are: Postponing or cancelling discretionary expenditure, a freeze on all non-essential recruitment and consultancy work, working with, suppliers to find cost savings and efficiency, encouraging employees to take paid or unpaid leave in light of reduced flying capacity, a temporary reduction of basic salary for the majority of Emirates Group employees for three months, ranging from 25% to 50%. Employees will continue to be paid their other allowances during this time. Junior level employees will be exempt from basic salary reduction, presidents of Emirates and dnata – Sir Tim Clark and Gary Chapman – will take a 100% basic salary cut for three months.

Emirates is one of the largest carriers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and operates an all-widebody fleet of 75 Airbus A380-800s and 137 Boeing 777S, of which 19 are 777-200s, 117 777-300s and eleven 777Fs.