Originally Posted by
tfung
Makes sense.. why wouldn't they retrench the workers? The government wage subsidy only stipulates that they have to keep employee levels until August.. After September, it's fair game to do whatever they want.. Besides, after getting the huge injection from the government and basically HK taxpayers, it's the right thing to do to restructure the company and employee base to make sure the company will be profitable again in the future.
Indeed.
Worldwide, airlines have received a bailout to keep them alive during the first few months when covid hit. Now that we know that covid is a long term problem, they all have to restructure. For example, US airlines could not layoff until 30 September. They have announced heavy layoffs in October (UA 36,000, AA 25,000), although US airlines should still have a less-affected domestic network. For example, UA plans to layoff 45% of its front-line work force, including 26,000 FAs and 2,250 pilots. AA mentioned 2,500 pilots.European airlines have also announced drastic plans.
CX is more at risk with no domestic network.