Aeroflot slashes 2,000 jobs

The Russian flag carrier Aeroflot plans to cut 13 per cent of its workforce, in the next six months, after its profits dropped amid higher fuel prices.

The Russian flag carrier Aeroflot plans to slash 2,000 jobs, or 13 per cent of its workforce, in the next six months, a company spokeswoman said today, after its profits dropped amid higher fuel prices. "Our general director has said that up to 2,000 jobs will be cut by the end of year or first quarter of next year," spokeswoman Irina Dannenberg said. Russia's Interfax news agency cited a company insider as saying Aeroflot had already cut 500 jobs and could cut up to 6,000, more than one-third of the company's 15,500 employees.

Asked about the likelihood of more sweeping job cuts, Ms Danneburg said: "Yes, maybe even more, but for now 2,000." "The general director has more than once said the staff needs to be thinned, now with the crisis this has become necessary," she added. In July, the airline announced that its 2008 profits had plummeted by 88 per cent compared to the year before because of higher kerosene and oil prices and net losses in its cargo operations. Aeroflot Cargo declared bankruptcy in June.

The state carrier's 2008 profits were just $37 million (Dh135m), compared with full year net profits of $313.4m in 2007. Reflecting similar problems at airlines worldwide, Aeroflot and its subsidiaries also saw an 11.5 per cent drop in passengers in the first six months of 2009 from the same period last year amid the global recession. The carrier, which serves 47 countries, pushed back by two and three years the purchase of five Airbus A320 and 321 aircraft in July amid the slump in ticket sales.

Aeroflot, a member of the Sky Team alliance led by Air France-KLM, had eyed ambitious expansion plans in recent years as part of a envisioned transformation from Soviet state airline to global aviation giant. Last year, it announced ambitions to triple its passenger numbers to reach 21 million per year by 2015. The airline, which is 51 per cent owned by the Russian government, had focused many of its expansion plans in Eastern Europe.

Aeroflot was this year among firms bidding to take over the Czech state carrier CSA Czech Airlines, much coveted as routes in Central and Eastern Europe look to be a major growth maker in the longer term. *AFP