Skift Take
It's time to stop being surprised at these announcements. This is life now. There is a public health emergency and few people are traveling. Airlines can't keep pretending everything is as normal. When this is over, most of the stronger ones will receive government support, and they will be able to carry on.
Airline SAS said it will temporarily halt most of its flights from Monday until conditions for commercial aviation improved.
Travel restrictions and falling demand due to the coronavirus have hammered airlines around the world, forcing them to reduce flights and lay off staff to stay afloat.
SAS said on Sunday it would temporary lay off up to 10,000 employees, or 90% of the airline’s total workforce.
“Demand for flights into, out of, and within Scandinavia has more or less disappeared,” chief executive Rickard Gustafson told a press briefing on Sunday. “We have to adapt to current circumstances and starting tomorrow, Monday, we will temporary pause a large part of our operations and we will heavily reduce the number of flights in our entire network,” he added.
SAS said it would as far as possible maintain some flights within the next few days to enable people to return home.
This article was from Reuters and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
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Tags: coronavirus, covid-19, scandinavian airlines
Photo credit: An SAS Airbus A320 lands at London Heathrow. The airline is temporarily pausing most of its operations. Matt Kieffer / Flickr