Virgin Atlantic is planning to drastically reduce the number of flights it’s operating due to Coronavirus.
The airline has said that by March 26, it will see an 80 per cent reduction on the number of flights.
Around 75 per cent of its fleet will be parked by that date and this will go up to 85 per cent in April.
Virgin staff will also be asked to take eight weeks of unpaid leave over the next three months, to help the airline cope during the coronavirus pandemic.
The airline is one of many to have brought in drastic measures to cope with a fall in passenger demand, due to global travel restrictions and the reluctance to travel due to the disease.
In a statement Virgin said its routes will still operate “based on customer demand”.
Here is the reaction from social media:
Some of these corporations are properly showing their greed.
Virgin Atlantic staff asked to take 8 weeks unpaid leave, while Branson is a billionaire.
— Kae Kurd (@KaeKurd) March 16, 2020
Just read the very difficult letter sent to all @VirginAtlantic staff. Extremely tough measures but vital for the airline to survive this. Virgin are a great airline staffed by some wonderful people. You will come through this. Best wishes to all👍🏻✈️
— Captain Dave (@DaveWallsworth) March 16, 2020
@VirginAtlantic is telling staff to take 8weeks UNPAID off surly @richardbranson can do decent thing and personally get them paid or cover cost. #CODVID19 isn't there fault.
— Jak (@AdventureJak) March 16, 2020
Ryanair also said it is set to ground flights across Europe in the next few days.
Ryanair, which runs 2,400 flights a day, operating flights across Europe including Germany, Spain and Italy.
The move to cancel the flights will effect thousands of passengers who have already planned trips.
In a statement Ryanair said: “Ryanair expects the result of these restrictions will be the grounding of the majority of its aircraft fleet across Europe over the next seven to 10 days.
“In those countries where the fleet is not grounded, social distancing restrictions may make flying to all intents and purposes impractical, if not impossible.
“For April and May, Ryanair now expects to reduce its seat capacity by up to 80%, and a full grounding of the fleet cannot be ruled out.
“Ryanair is taking immediate action to reduce operating expenses and improve cash flows.
“This will involve grounding surplus aircraft, freezing recruitment and discretionary spending, and implementing a series of voluntary leave options, temporarily suspending employment contracts, and significant reductions to working hours and payments.”
At the time of writing there are 1,391 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the UK and 35 deaths.
