Coronavirus: Emirates airline asks pilots,cabin crew to take unpaid leave

Coronavirus: Emirates airline asks pilots,cabin crew to take unpaid leave

Dubai's Emirates airline, one of the world's biggestinternational airlines, is asking pilots and cabin crew to take unpaidleave, according to internal staff emails seen by Reuters, as thecoronavirus outbreak hammers demand for travel.

"You are strongly encouraged to make use of this opportunity tovolunteer for additional paid and unpaid leave," an email to pilots said.

There is limited opportunity for unpaid leave for cabin crew whoare being encouraged to take paid leave, another email said.

The airline did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tourism and aviation are vital to the economy of Dubai, whichdoes not have the vast oil wealth of some of its Gulf neighbours.

Emirates employed over 21,000 cabin crew and 4,000 pilots amongmore than 100,000 employees overall at the end of March 2019.

Emirates has told staff the coronavirus epidemic could bethe biggest challenge it has faced in many years, frozen recruitment andcontinues to cut flights as the situation worsens globally.

The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday said it would bar entry to foreigners apart from diplomats and residents.

Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello told Reuters onWednesday that the government was trying to ascertain the "real cause" behindthe Qatar Airways' unexpected decision to lay off the Filipino workers.

Qatar Airways, which employed46,000 people at the end of March 2019, declined to comment.

The layoffs were reported earlier by ABS-CBN. It said theFilipino employees, including engineers and maintenance staff, were laid off onTuesday and others had also lost their jobs.

State-owned Qatar Airways had warned it would report its thirdconsecutive loss this financial year, which ends this month, before theoutbreak battered global travel demand.

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