Qatar Airways to retire around 50 aircraft and almost a fifth of its staff in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Unfortunately, we will have to cut nearly 20% of our workforce – nearly equal to the amount of aeroplanes we will never fly again, over the next three years,” Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker told the BBC in an interview. “It’s a very hard decision… but we have no alternative.”
The airline currently has a fleet of 245 aircraft, according to Cirium data, around half of which are in temporary storage due to capacity cuts.