Nordic low-cost airline Sterling on Friday said it would cut about 20 percent of its about 1,000 pilots and cabin crew to combat the effects of a deteriorating business environment.
The Icelandic-owned airline said it would no longer staff its bases permanently at Aalborg and Billund in Denmark, and Malmo and Gothenburg in Sweden from January 1 2009, consolidating staff instead into its bases in Scandinavian capitals Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen.
Sterling Chief Executive Reza Taleghani said he hoped to achieve the cuts mostly through voluntary redundancies and would seek to maintain some flexibility to expand again next year should the market permit.
"The aviation industry is experiencing a difficult combination of extremely high fuel prices and a declining global economy. Sterling is no exception and these developments demand actions," he said.
Taleghani said the planned reduction in number of seats was about 14 percent, adding the airline was already staffed for more aircraft than it operated.
Sterling flew 4.4 million passengers last year and cut its operating loss to DKK4.5 million Danish kroner ($949,700) from DKK182.4 million in 2006.
