Swissport to cut 4,500 Jobs in UK, Ireland on air travel slump

Swissport International AG plans to cut more than 4,500 jobs in Britain and Ireland as the world’s biggest provider of airport ground and cargo handling services responds to a collapse in air travel.

The Zurich-based company, which is owned by troubled Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co., needs to reduce employment to cope with a 50% drop in revenue this year and secure vital funding from lenders and investors, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.

The cuts would comprise about half of Swissport’s payroll in the two countries.

Airlines and airports worldwide are reeling from the coronavirus crisis, which is expected to depress travel for years to come. Swissport, whose low-margin business depends on high passenger volumes to show a profit, provides services spanning ticketing to baggage handling at 28 airports in the British Isles, where it took an early blow with the collapse of Flybe Plc in March.

The GMB and Unite unions responded to the Swissport plans by urging the U.K. government to provide a bespoke funding package for aviation to help save thousands of jobs, as well as an extension to furlough programs.

More than 730,000 people in posts directly reliant on aviation may find themselves out of work in the U.K. as a result of the pandemic, according to the International Air Transport Association.

British Airways is seeking to cut as many as 12,000 jobs, while discount carriers EasyJet Plc and Ryanair Holdings Plc are slashing about a third of their workforce in the country.

Swissport employs about 64,000 at 300 airports in 47 countries, according to its website. Those include 25 in the U.K., the London hubs of Heathrow and Gatwick among them, as well as three in Ireland. The company didn’t say where the jobs might go.