Etihad freezes hiring of non-operational staff for 2016 as fares drop

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is not hiring non-operational staff until “at least” the end of the year after introducing an partial employment freeze in the first quarter, Etihad Aviation Group president and CE James Hogan said Tuesday. Hogan said Etihad will not be firing any of its 27,000 staff and the freeze will only affect its non-operational employees, who also will not be replaced if they resign. The airline will continue hiring pilots, cabin crew and engineers, he said. The employment freeze was introduced “at the end of the first quarter” in a move to curb the impact of yield pressure (profit margins on airfares) on the airline’s bottom-line, Hogan said. Airlines around the world have complained this year that currency fluctuations, economic uncertainty, including the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, and overcapacity in the market are putting pressure on yields. “Worldwide you’re seeing great deals or heavy discounting depending how you look at it,” said Hogan. “The biggest challenge for all airlines this year is capacity, there is a lot of capacity in the market,” Hogan said.<br/>