Emirates asks pilots to take unpaid leave and Qatar Airways lays off staff

Middle East airline Qatar Airways laid off about 200 Filipino staff in Doha this week and rival Emirates asked pilots to take unpaid leave as the coronavirus outbreak hammers demand to travel.

The state-owned airlines have had to slash dozens of flights, which are crucial for their Gulf hubs that millions of passengers pass through each year.

Philippine Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello told Reuters on Wednesday that the government was trying to ascertain the “real cause” behind the unexpected decision to lay off the workers.

Qatar Airways did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

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

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

Dubai’s Emirates has joined other airlines around the world in asking pilots to take unpaid leave.

“You are strongly encouraged to make use of this opportunity to volunteer for additional paid and unpaid leave,” the airline said in an internal email to pilots seen by Reuters.

Emirates, one of the world’s biggest international airlines, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

Tourism and aviation are vital to Dubai’s economy, which does not have the vast oil wealth of some of its neighbors.

Emirates Group, which employed over 100,000 people, including about 4,000 pilots as of March 2019, asked staff to take unpaid leave earlier this month, although pilots were not included in the request then.

Emirates has told staff the coronavirus epidemic could be the biggest challenge it has faced in many years.

The airline has frozen recruitment and continues to cut flights as the situation worsens globally.

In response to a Reuters query as to whether the Dubai government would provide support to its state aviation entities, the state media office sent a statement from the emirate’s airport operator.

Dubai Airports said it was working with business partners to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus but could not comment further as commercial arrangements were confidential.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways on Wednesday announced another raft of flight cancellations, including to India and Egypt.