France is warning Air France-KLM against making forced job cuts, with Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying such a move would constitute a “red line” the carrier shouldn’t cross after receiving a state bailout. “We spent money to save Air France,” he said Thursday. “I am asking that there not be any forced departures -- that’s the red line.” Le Maire declined to confirm a report Wednesday that the airline is seeking about 8,300 voluntary staff departures at its French arm, including pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. “I hope it’s less than 8,000 jobs,” he said. “The state will back a company that becomes profitable and is solid.” Europe’s second-biggest airline is preparing to unveil a workforce plan in coming weeks as part of a strategic review ordered by CEO Ben Smith. Any cuts will add to thousands of jobs on the line in the sector in Europe. The French unit, which employs 46,000 people, agreed to a 40% cut in domestic capacity by the end of next year and a lowering of carbon emissions. The cuts could include around 300 pilots, 2,000 cabin crew and 6,000 ground staff, or roughly 17% of employees, according to people familiar with the matter. Le Maire’s comments show that Smith is under pressure to avoid enforced dismissals, a move the CEO has already said he doesn’t want to make.<br/>
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The major US airlines have all warned the coronavirus pandemic may force them to lay off employees in order to save money, but Delta CEO Ed Bastian is hoping to avoid cutting staff at all. The airline took $5.4b from the US Treasury under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which requires Delta to maintain employee salaries and benefits through Sept. 30. “You know that the telltale sign will come October 1. That's when the restrictions around furloughs will come off and my goal, at Delta, is to avoid furloughs in any way we possibly can,” Bastian said. The air carrier employs 90,000 people. Yet almost half — more than 40,000 — have taken voluntary leave to help Delta save money during the COVID-19 crisis. Delta just launched an early retirement program, which Bastian estimates will help it streamline its workforce. The company also cut its cash burn from $100m a day before the pandemic, to $30m a day currently. It plans to add 100 flights back to its daily schedule this month as air traffic ticks up again. “You start to see how the revenue is climbing by staying very disciplined on cost, capping load factors and adding flights back as demand returns,” Bastian said. However, according to the CEO, revenue is only running at 15% of what it was a year ago as passengers start flying again. Delta plans to add around 1000 daily flights in July and August as travel demand slowly recovers. “Traffic is back. It bottomed out in April at 5%,’ he said. “I'd expect over In the next few weeks, that number is going to go to 20% and then, hopefully, eventually 30% by the end of the third quarter.”<br/>
A British pilot in Vietnam stricken with Covid-19, who at one point seemed close to death, has almost fully recovered and is in a position to be discharged from hospital, a Vietnamese medical official said. The case of Stephen Cameron has attracted national attention in Vietnam, where a combination of targeted testing and aggressive quarantine has kept its coronavirus tally to an impressively low 335 cases and zero deaths. “The patient can leave now, but the most important thing is that he practises physical therapy,” said health official Luong Ngoc Khue. The 43-year-old Scot arrived in Vietnam in early March to work for Vietnam Airlines, according to state media. On March 20, he was hospitalised with Covid-19 symptoms. By early April, Cameron was on a ventilator and life support machine. In May, medical officials said the disease had reduced his lung capacity to 10% and that he urgently needed a lung transplant. Weeks later, however, Cameron regained consciousness after his condition began to improve. He no longer needed a lung transplant, said Khue.<br/>