Jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce to cut 9,000 jobs 

A worker walks beneath one of four large Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines on an Airbus A380 at Vancouver International Airport in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. File Photo by Heinz Ruckemann/UPI | License Photo

May 20 (UPI) -- British jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce said Wednesday it will cut 9,000 jobs as it tries to weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the air travel industry.

Rolls-Royce said 8,000 of the cuts will be made in its civil aerospace sector. The losses represent nearly one-fifth of the company's worldwide workforce of 52,000.

"Our airline customers and airframe partners are having to adapt and so must we," Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East said in a statement. "We must take difficult decisions to see our business through these unprecedented times."

Rolls-Royce said the reorganization should save the company about $1.6 billion annually and $858 million immediately.

"We have to do this right, which means we will work closely with our employee and trade union representatives as appropriate, look at any viable alternatives to mitigate the impact, consult with everyone affected and treat our people with dignity and respect," West added.

A number of aircraft use Rolls Royce engines, including Airbus' A330, A340, A350 and A380 jetliners, as well as Boeing's 777 and 787.

The International Air Transport Association said last week it doesn't expect air travel to return to 2019 levels until 2023. Rolls-Royce said it plans to produce just 250 plane engines this year, down from its previous estimate of 450.

Ryanair to cut pay, as many as 3,000 jobs due to travel slowdown

A Ryanair Boeing 737 lands at Dublin Airport in Dublin, Ireland. The carrier said Monday it may ultimately cut 3,000 jobs due to fallout from the coronavirus crisis. File Photo by Aidan Crawley/EPA-EFE

May 18 (UPI) -- Ireland-based Ryanair says it may end up cutting thousands of jobs due to economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The discount airline said in an earnings report Monday that most of its fleet has been grounded since mid-March, which reduced full-year traffic by five million travelers.


Ryanair said it anticipates operating less than 1 percent of its scheduled flights in the quarter from April to June and hopes to fly more than 50 percent of its flights in the following quarter.

The company said it won't take government aid and it has already begun to make labor cutbacks.

"Unlike many flag carrier competitors, Ryanair will not request or receive state aid," the company said. "Consultations about base closures, pay cuts of up to 20 percent, unpaid leave and up to 3,000 job cuts (mainly pilots and cabin crew) are underway with our people and our unions."

The airline said profits had increased by 13 percent for the last fiscal year, which ended in March before the full impact of the coronavirus crisis arrived.

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary criticized European restrictions that called for a 14-day quarantine for some passengers on inbound flights. Some have since been eased.

"They removed this idiotic 14-day isolation that is both unimplementable and unmanageable, in favor of using masks and temperature checks," O'Leary told CNBC, calling the proposed quarantine "a joke."

O'Leary said he's hoping to dissuade British officials from imposing their own 14-day quarantine.

"The government has no idea what they are talking about," he said. "They say it is based on science but then [they] can't explain why you're exempting the Irish and the French."