Latam Dismisses 1,400 Employees Due to Coronavirus

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Latam Airlines, Latin America’s largest airline, reported on Friday, May 15th, that it will dismiss 1,400 employees as a result of the coronavirus crisis. The company’s decision marks the first redundancy move in a major airline in the region during the current pandemic.

The announcement comes in the same week as the three main Brazilian airlines, Gol, Latam, and Azul, signed up for the rescue proposal from a bank syndicate coordinated by the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development).

They are expected to have access to a package ranging from R$4 to R$7 billion (US$683 to US$1,195 million).

The dismissals at Latam represent three percent of the company’s workforce. In a recent measure, the company had already halved the wages of all its 43,000 employees.

Azul has 78 percent of its workers on unpaid leave while half of Gol and Avianca’s employees are in the same situation.

Source: Infomoney