Isavia press-release
There are no summer jobs in Isavia this year due to the impact of COVID-19. This is in addition to the measures taken at the end of March when the company’s 101 employees were laid off due to the effects of the COVID-91 and 37 more offered continued employment in a lower employment rate. Before the impact of COVID-19, it was planned to hire 140 people in Isavia’s summer retrenchments. No further action is planned for Isavia’s parent company and its subsidiaries Isavia ANS and Isaiva Inland at this time.
It was also announced today that 30 employees at the Fríhöfnin, a subsidiary of Isavia for Keflavik Duty Free, had been laid off due to the impact of COVID-19. Therefore, in addition, more than 100 employees will be offered a lower employment rate. Before taking action today, 169 people worked at the Fríhöfnin.
“The company’s revenues have contracted by 98 percent,” says Thorgerður Þráinsdóttir, Managing Director of the Fríhöfnin. “From the beginning of the epidemic, emphasis has been placed on protecting jobs as much as possible. At the end of the month, the decision was made not to terminate permanent staff but not to hire a summer job at the Fríhöfnin. However, the case has evolved so that there is now a prospect of air traffic being extremely limited over the next few months and the period during which the impact of the COVID-19 might be longer than expected.”
Sveinbjörn Indriðason, CEO of Isavia, says the uncertainty about the continuation in the airline operations is still very high. “It cannot be ruled out that further action needs to be taken later,” says Sveinbjörn. “We continue to monitor developments closely, the decisions that governments around the world make regarding border openings and what airlines decide to do later. We have emphasized the importance of being prepared to service air traffic when it comes. We also have ways to influence airlines’ decisions when it comes to resuming flights to and from Iceland. We are in a financial position so far that we can afford to look at the fall, and not just for the next few weeks or a few months.”
