Brussels Airlines announced on Tuesday that they will take substantial measures to ensure their survival and create a sustainable future. The company will reduce the size of their fleet by 30 percent and downsize their workforce by 25 percent.
Like all airlines, Brussels Airlines has been impacted by the unprecedented destruction of air travel demand due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Today (May 12, 2020), the carrier announced substantial measures to ensure its survival and create a sustainable future including a fleet reduction of 30 percent and a 25 percent downsizing of their workforce. Through a variety of initiatives, the carrier will structurally reduce their costs to a competitive level while seeking support from its parent company, the Lufthansa Group, as well as the Belgian government. The company will work with stakeholders to keep redundancies to a minimum, with the goal of retaining 75% of their team members. Since the temporary suspension of flights on March 21st, the carrier has lost around €1 million daily due to lost revenue and unavoidable aircraft leasing and maintenance costs. In Tuesday’s announcement, Brussels Airlines’ CEO, Dieter Vranckx said,
“We started the year 2020 with positive results in terms of number of passengers and revenues; and for this summer, we planned a strong leisure offer as we could compensate part of the business we lost due to the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook Belgium. But the Coronavirus pandemic is hitting Brussels Airlines extremely hard. We had no other choice than to temporarily 21st and to introduce technical unemployment for the entire company. This unprecedented crisis has worsened our financial situation obliging us to take substantial and indispensable measures. The restructuring is urgently needed in order to survive the current crisis and to become structurally competitive in the future. The strength of our company are our employees and we do everything we can to protect our staff as much as possible. The way how we deal with the social impact is for us as important as the end goal itself. It’s management’s responsibility to make sure that our company can survive the crisis. But let’s be clear, the intention is not only to survive but to build a healthy company with a long-term structural profitability and growth perspectives. We strongly believe in the plan and herewith in the future of Brussels Airlines.”
Source: Brussels Airlines