Air Seychelles is set to retrench 11 pilots due to the financial impact of COVID-19, the airline said.
The planned laying off of the pilots follows comes almost four months after the airline announced voluntary redundancy targeting older workers as part of its evaluation of its manpower plan to sustain its long-term operations.
“Given the unprecedented employment environment, the airline is also offering various job opportunities currently available within the organization to the affected colleagues as an alternative, in addition to keeping their License Proficiency Check over one year with the possibility of renewal based on improvement in business performance,” the airliner was quoted as saying by Seychelles News Agency.
The Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance, Patrick Payet said last April that the country had reached a deal to take full ownership of its national airline.
This followed talks with Etihad Airways, which agreed to relinquish its 40% stake in the airline.
Air Seychelles owed Etihad $72.3 million and with the 79% write-down, Seychelles will have to pay $11.34 million.
However, $71.5 million is still owed to bondholders.
Payet said that Seychelles is still holding discussions with the Trade Development Bank for a loan to pay the bondholders and Etihad.
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