Airline KLM says it has been ‘compelled to further downsize its organisation’ by cutting a further 800 to 1,000 jobs because of the continuing coronavirus crisis.

‘We have already taken an unbelievable array of measures to cope with the crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. Regrettably, this resulted, among other things, in the loss of 5,000 jobs and colleagues at KLM in 2020,’ the Dutch flag carrier said in a statement.

The first reorganization was based on the premise that air traffic would begin to recover in 2021. ‘The current reality is that the recovery of long-haul traffic will be delayed longer than anticipated, primarily due to existing and new international measures and travel restrictions,’ the airline said.

The job losses will be split across all operations, and include 100 cockpit and 500 cabin jobs.

The new round of job cuts do not take into account the latest measures announced by the Dutch government, which include a four-week ban on flights from the UK, South Africa and South America and further restrictions on travel from outside the EU.

‘Even if our crew members are exempt from the new regulations, a further loss of jobs will regrettably be inevitable,’ chief executive Pieter Elbers said. ‘The impact of the latest measures will become evident in due course.’

Capital

Earlier this month the Financieele Dagblad reported that talks between the Dutch and French governments on a new capital injection for airline Air France-KLM are proceeding slowly.

Two deadlines have already been missed and insiders say that the airline is not counting on there being a deal at the presentation of its annual results on February 18.

KLM has already had a €3.4bn package from the Dutch state, while Air France has had €7bn from the French government.