Garuda terminates contracts of 700 workers amid low demand

Garuda Indonesia announced Tuesday that it would terminate the contracts of at least 700 employees by November 1 as the airline struggles with low travel demand during the COVID-19 outbreak. The workers being laid off have been taking unpaid leave since May, according to Garuda president director Irfan Setiaputra. The airline revealed earlier this year that it would furlough around 800 contract workers starting May 14. “We are forced to take the difficult decision in order to ensure our company’s survival during these challenging times,” Irfan said. The company turned in a loss of US$712.7m in H1, a stark difference from last year’s net profit of $24.11m during the same period, as travel restriction and border closures batter the airline industry. The COVID-19 global health crisis has continued to pressure the aviation industry in Indonesia amid border closures that have prompted people to cancel travel plans. “The pandemic has had unpredictable long-term effects on our company’s performance, as we still haven’t seen any significant improvements as of today,” Irfan said. In early June, the airline also terminated the contracts of 180 non-permanent pilots, which consisted of senior and outsourced pilots working on a contract basis. <br/>