DUBAI (Reuters) – Emirates, one of the world’s biggest long-haul airlines, said on Sunday it would stop nearly all passenger flights this week and cut staff wages by as much as half because of the coronavirus impact on travel demand.
The state-owned Dubai carrier had already announced the suspension of nearly 70% of its network of 159 destinations, asked staff to go on unpaid leave and frozen recruitment as the industry faces one of its biggest ever challenges.
“As a global network airline, we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot viably operate passenger services until countries reopen their borders and travel confidence returns,” Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said in a statement.
The Dubai based airline, which initially said it was stopping all passenger operations by Wednesday, will maintain some services to 13 countries for repatriation flights at the request of governme