Jakarta (VNA) – A number of Indonesianairlines have started laying off employees, including pilots, flightattendants, and technicians, as part of measures to reduce financial lossescaused by COVID-19.
The pandemic has hit the Indonesian aviationindustry hard, with many airlines being forced to cut both domestic andinternational flights due to travel bans and restrictions to several countries.
Chairman of the Indonesia National Air CarrierAssociation (INACA) Denon Prawiratmadja said there has been a sharpdecline in the number of air passengers since early March, causing all airlinesto cut flight frequency and routes by 50 percent or more.
If the pandemic is getting worse in the comingtime, the aviation industry will suffer from heavier losses, even operationaltermination due to bankruptcy, he said.
During the first three months of this year, asmany as 12,703 flights with about 1.67 million passengers had been cancelled, 11,680of which were domestic./.