Darwin Airline (Lugano) is planning to retrench almost 20% of its workforce as it moves to focus its attention away from the scheduled market and more towards the ACMI/charter sector.
In a letter to its workforce seen by the Corriere del Ticino newspaper, the Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) affiliate said that out of its total 320 employees, 60 would be laid off including 30 from the flight crew and 30 from ground operations. The move is in stark contrast to earlier expectations for the Swiss regional operator which, following the announcement of Etihad's plans to acquire a 33% in the airline early last year, was provided with fresh capital it used to pay off outstanding debts, recruit additional staff, and open new routes.
However, with Etihad's buy-in still awaiting both Swiss and European approval a year on, Darwin's fortunes have plummeted with the airline blaming Europe's continued economic slide as well as alleged anti-competitive behaviour by Lufthansa Group subsidiary, Swiss (LX, Zurich).
As such, the layoffs are not entirely unexpected given that Darwin, also known as Etihad Regional, terminated four loss-making routes - Lugano-Zurich, Zurich-Linz Blue Danube, Geneva-Toulouse Blagnac, and Geneva-Nice - at the beginning of the month. This coming summer, Darwin will also cut its Geneva-Zurich service from 32 roundtrip daily flights to just 9.
Negotiations between management and the airline's union regarding the cuts are said to have already taken place.
