Coronavirus: Norwegian Air to suspend half its staff

The budget airline, Norwegian Air has temporarily laid off about half of its staff because of the corona virus outbreak after having had to cancel about 4000 flights.  The company employs 1200 staff in UK.

The airline has decided to ground 40% of its long-haul fleet and cancel up to a quarter of its short-haul flights. The number of cancelled flights may increase after the end of May.

Its boss said new restrictions on travel between the US and mainland Europe put “extra pressure on an already difficult situation”. Jacob Schram, chief executive of Norwegian, said this was “an unprecedented situation”. He called on “international governments to act now to ensure that the aviation industry can protect jobs and continue to be a vital part of the global economic recovery”.