Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air lays off 1,000 employees

Debrecen, Hungary. Photo: MTI

“Despite its best efforts,” Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air is forced to lay off 1,000 employees — 19 percent of its workers — due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company said on Tuesday.

“Additional employee furlough measures have also been and will be taken in the short term as necessitated by the travel restrictions due the COVID-19 pandemic,” the airline said.

According to a company statement, Wizz Air will reduce the remuneration of senior executives by an average 22 percent, and the salaries of pilots, cabin crew and office workers by an average 14 percent for the whole year ending March 31, 2021.

In addition, the company will not renew the contracts of 32 older Airbus A320 planes at the end of the lease term, so they will be returned to the lessor, according to Wizz Air.

“We have taken various initiatives to protect the position of the company in a controlled manner during the COVID-19 pandemic and are reviewing the competitiveness and allocation of the assets of the company,” Wizz Air Chief Executive Officer (CEO) József Váradi underlined in the statement.

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, Wizz Air has worked with various governments to offer repatriation flights for their citizens in Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and North America. The company has also operated a number of flights between China and Hungary to deliver medical supplies, with most of the orders coming from the Hungarian government, said the statement.