TUIfly seeks to cut 1,000 staff: sources

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Tour operator TUI’s airline TUIfly is seeking to cut around 1,000 jobs as part of a cost cut plan to halve its fleet of aircraft, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The layoffs will include cutting 270 pilots, around 430 cabin crew, 190 technicians and 100 employees in administrative roles, the sources said. TUIfly has around 2,000 staff at present.

A spokesman for TUIfly said current market conditions only support the need for around only half of TUIfly’s 39 Boeing 737 aircraft. What consequences this will have for staff is still a matter of negotiation with unions, the spokesman said.

Vereinigug Cockpit (VC) a trade union representing cabin crew said management now needs to engage in frank and open talks about how to cut costs, VC-President Markus Wahl said.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer in Berlin; Writing by Edward Taylor; Editing by Louise Heavens)