Thousands of jobs are set to be lost at baggage handling giant Swissport as a result of the impact on air travel caused by the coronavirus crisis.

The company told staff yesterday that up to 4,556 jobs could be cut, more than half its UK workforce.

Chief executive Jason Holt said the company had to reduce the size of its workforce to survive.

The collapse in air travel means its revenue is forecast to be almost 50% lower than last year.

Mr Holt said in a message to staff: “We must do this to secure the lifeline of funding from lenders and investors to protect as many jobs as possible in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“It’s true that we’ve seen tough times before – volcanic cloud, 9/11, the financial crisis – and we’ve weathered these. But this time it’s different. We have never seen anything like Covid-19 in our lifetimes.

“We are now facing a long period of uncertainty and reduced flight numbers, along with significant changes taking place to the way people travel and the way goods move around the world. There is no escaping the fact that the industry is now smaller than it was, and it will remain so for some time to come.”

Unions described the redundancies as “devastating news”.

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