Air Greenland (GL, Nuuk) is laying off more than one hundred staff as a decline in passengers results in losses at the airline.
Chief executive officer, Jacob Nitter Sørensen, said that he expects a 30-35% reduction in travellers on Air Greenland’s domestic and Atlantic routes next year, creating a shortfall of DKK225 million krone (USD33.6 million), resulting in job cuts.
The Greenland Broadcasting Corporation (Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa – KNR) on May 28 quoted Sørensen as saying 60 permanent Air Greenland employees will lose their jobs while short-term contracts and other positions will result in a total of 111 positions being cut.
He said that the airline has modified its schedule and come up with a number of cost-saving measures, but even so, job cuts were inevitable.
“We have worked closely with the employees and their professional organisations in this process, which means that we have now together found the savings that are needed. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I am impressed by the whole-hearted efforts that have been made to find common solutions that are difficult but imperative,” Sørensen said.
On May 5 Air Greenland announced an initial round of job cuts, saying between 75 and 100 people could face unemployment, Denmark’s Check-In reported.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Air Greenland ceased flights on March 20, but domestic flights subsequently resumed as well as a capital-to-capital flight every two days between Nuuk and Copenhagen Kastrup.
