Qatar Airways to slash foreign pilots’ pay: memo

Qatar Airways will slash some pilots’ salaries and make others redundant to offset the revenue collapse caused by the novel coronavirus travel crisis, it said in a memo seen by AFP Monday.

The Gulf airline, which flew to more than 170 destinations with 234 aircraft as of March, has been hit by airport closures and travel bans imposed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

The International Air Transport Association warned in April that air traffic in the Middle East and North Africa would plummet by more than half this year.

Qatar Airways’ most senior pilots “will be subjected to a 25 percent reduction” in salaries, chief flight operations officer Jassim al-Haroon wrote to pilots in a memo dated June 4.