Like other carriers and transportation companies, Emirates is taking measures to offset a slide in demand due to the impact of coronavirus. Bloomberg
Like other carriers and transportation companies, Emirates is taking measures to offset a slide in demand due to the impact of coronavirus. Bloomberg
Like other carriers and transportation companies, Emirates is taking measures to offset a slide in demand due to the impact of coronavirus. Bloomberg
Like other carriers and transportation companies, Emirates is taking measures to offset a slide in demand due to the impact of coronavirus. Bloomberg

Emirates Group offers staff voluntary leave as coronavirus outbreak dents air travel demand


Deena Kamel
  • English
  • Arabic

Emirates Group, which includes the world's biggest airline by international traffic, has offered its staff the option of taking voluntary leave, joining global carriers in taking measures to address the slide in air traffic demand due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The company asked employees at its 100,000-strong group to consider taking paid and unpaid leave, according to an internal memo seen by The National.

"A particular challenge for us right now is dealing with the impact of Covid-19," the March 1 email said. "We've seen a measurable slow-down in business across our brands and a need for flexibility in the way we work."

The virus has spread to more than 60 countries, prompting the World Health Organisation to raise its risk assessment to its highest level.

Global airlines are forecast to lose an estimated $29.3 billion (Dh107.6bn) in revenue this year, 5 per cent lower than forecast in December, due to an estimated 4.7 per cent decline in travel demand, the International Air Transport Association said in an initial assessment of the coronavirus impact.

Emirates Group, which includes airport services unit Dnata, asked employees who have "accrued a significant balance of annual leave" to consider taking paid leave.

It also offered voluntary unpaid leave to employees in non-operational roles. This option may also become available to staff in operational roles.

"In all cases we strongly encourage you to take up this opportunity if you have the support and approval of your line manager," the email said.

Reuters first reported news of the memo earlier on Sunday.

The move comes after Emirates halted all fights to China, except Beijing, and Iran, based on directives from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority because of the spread of coronavirus in those countries.

Other airlines have also taken measures in response to the drop in air travel demand. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said about 25,000 staff in the group agreed to take unpaid leave through a Special Leave Scheme as its "business challenges remain acute".

Hong Kong Airlines axed 400 jobs and asked staff to take two weeks of unpaid leave per month or switch to three-day weeks. China Southern Airlines asked its pilots to take mandatory indefinite no-pay leave. Singapore Airlines has also been forced to cut its flight schedule.

Many airlines and hotel groups have also warned of a hit to their earnings as the outbreak led to fewer bookings and more event cancellations.

Heightened concern about the spread of the coronavirus has prompted companies and governments to cancel global events, such as Germany's ITB Tourism Fair in Berlin scheduled this month, to protect employees -- further denting corporate travel bookings. The world's biggest property fair, Mipim, yesterday postponed its annual gathering in Cannes, which was due to take place next week.

The deadly virus could wipe out $559.7bn annually from spending on corporate travel this year, which is 37 per cent of the industry's total global expenditure forecast, according to US-based Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

A poll of GBTA's members showed that nearly two-thirds have cancelled at least a “few” meetings or events while 95 per cent suspended or cancelled “most” or “all” business trips to China. A quarter of respondents said their company cancelled or suspended at least some trips to European countries such as Italy, Germany, and France.

The virus is "fundamentally affecting" the way many companies are now doing business, Scott Solombrino, GBTA’s chief operating officer and executive director, said.

"If this turns into a global pandemic, the industry may well lose billions of dollars — an impact that will have negative ramifications for the entire global economy," he said.

THE%20HOLDOVERS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlexander%20Payne%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Paul%20Giamatti%2C%20Da'Vine%20Joy%20Randolph%2C%20Dominic%20Sessa%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog

Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns

Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Food of choice: Sushi  

Favourite colour: Orange

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Places to go for free coffee
  • Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day. 
  • La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
  • Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
  • Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

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Brief scores:

Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first

Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)

Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14

Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)

Perera 47; Sohail 2-18

Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt

Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure

Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers

Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised

Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels

While you're here
HOW TO WATCH

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%3Cp%3E-%20US%20Congress%20is%20divided%20into%20two%20chambers%3A%20the%20House%20of%20Representatives%20and%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20435%20members%20make%20up%20the%20House%2C%20and%20100%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20A%20party%20needs%20control%20of%20218%20seats%20to%20have%20a%20majority%20in%20the%20House%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20Senate%2C%20a%20party%20needs%20to%20hold%2051%20seats%20for%20control%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20event%20of%20a%2050-50%20split%2C%20the%20vice%20president's%20party%20retains%20power%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203S%20Money%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20London%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Zhiznevsky%2C%20Eugene%20Dugaev%20and%20Andrei%20Dikouchine%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%245.6%20million%20raised%20in%20total%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
BRIEF SCORES:

Toss: Nepal, chose to field

UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23

Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17

Result: UAE won by 21 runs

Series: UAE lead 1-0

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How much of your income do you need to save?

The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.

In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)

Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.

 

'Saand Ki Aankh'

Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars