Aviation, autos and other virus victims | Money

PARIS, July 30 — Shuttered shops, idle production lines, grounded planes — the coronavirus pandemic has devastated several industries, not least the aviation and automobile sectors, but also retail and energy.

Here is a recap of some major casualties, amid layoffs, bankruptcies and rescue plans: 

Crash landing

Among the big-hitters in crisis in the air transport sector are two Latin American carriers, including the region’s biggest airline LATAM, and Colombia’s Avianca, both of which have filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.

Virgin Australia has also collapsed, going into administration in April.

Smaller airlines have gone under too, including South Africa’s Comair and South African Airways (SAA), Britain’s Flybe and four subsidiaries of Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Others are surviving but with layoffs: more than 41,000 job losses have been announced at American Airlines, up to 36,000 at United Airlines, 22,000 at Germany’s Lufthansa, at least 19,000 at Air Canada, 12,000 at British Airways, 10,000 at American Delta Air Lines, 6,000 at Australia’s Qantas, 5,000 at Scandinavia’s SAS, and 4,500 at Britain’s EasyJet.

Several others have also shed thousands of jobs, including Britain’s Virgin Atlantic (3,150) and Ireland’s Ryanair (3,250).

Ground handling services have been affected as well, with Swissport planning to axe 4,000 jobs in Britain.

The US plane manufacturer Boeing has announced 16,000 layoffs, and Canada’s Bombardier 2,500. 

In the engine sector, General Electric and Britain’s Rolls-Royce have also slashed 12,600 and 9,000 jobs respectively.

Some governments have stepped in to limit the damage: Germany has flown to the rescue of Lufthansa and Condor, France and the Netherlands have done the same for Air France-KLM, while Italy has decided to nationalise Alitalia.

Bumpy ride

The automobile industry has also taken a massive hit from the pandemic. In the biggest signs of crisis, Renault is to axe 15,000 jobs, and car rental giant Hertz has filed for bankruptcy.

BMW will cut 6,000 jobs while Nissan is planning to shutter a factory in Barcelona that employs 3,000. 

Sweden’s Volvo Group, which makes heavy trucks, will slash 4,100 jobs worldwide, and in Britain more than 6,000 jobs will be lost at Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, Bentley and McLaren.

Battered brands

The pandemic has been fatal for many brands meanwhile as they had to close shops amid lockdowns.

In Britain, shopping centre owner Intu has gone into administration, as has rent-to-own retailer BrightHouse and outlets for the department store chain Debenhams. 

Other casualties include department store chain John Lewis, to axe 1,300 jobs, and Travis and Perkins, a construction and DIY materials retailer, to shed 2,500.

In Germany the department store chain Karstadt Kaufhof will close a third of its shops and lay off 6,000 employees.

In France clothing brands including Andre, Naf Naf, Camaieu and Orchestra-Premaman have gone into administration, as has furniture retailer Alinea.

In the catering sector British brand The Restaurant Group is closing 125 restaurants with the loss of 3,000 jobs. Germany’s Vapiano has collapsed as well.

Other hard-hit sectors

The energy sector is also suffering. British energy giant BP has announced plans to axe nearly 10,000 jobs, while domestic energy providers Centrica and OVO will shed 5,000 and 2,600 jobs respectively. 

Texan drilling group Diamond Offshore and US hydrocarbon exploration group Petroleum Corporation have filed for bankruptcy.

In the digital sector, ride-hailing giant Uber plans to get rid of 6,700 workers and rival Lyft nearly 1,000. Airbnb and TripAdvisor have fired around 25 per cent of their workforce.

Swiss logistics group Kuehne+Nagel also plans to lay off a quarter of its employees — more than 15,000 posts — and British postal service the Royal Mail will scrap 2,000.

In the aid sector, Oxfam will close 18 offices and cut nearly 1,500 jobs. — AFP