Spanair are to shed 1,100 jobs and cancel 9 routes in an effort to become competetive once more.
Spanair, wholly owned by the Scandinavian airline SAS, is shedding 1,100 jobs, 900 of them full time, in an effort to restructure the company and regain competitiveness in an industry which has been hard hit by escalating fuel prices.
The airline will still be the number one carrier in its base, Barcelona, and the second largest in Madrid-Barajas, and despite the cuts, will still operate 260 flights daily to 48 destinations. The routes being closed are Madrid-Barajas to Munich, Gerona, San Sebastián, Granada and Oviedo as well as shuttle services Barcelona-Zurich, Bilbao-Málaga and Bilbao-Jerez. These routes have been deemed uneconomic.
The cuts have been widely expected for quite some time and come as little surprise, escalating fuel prices and the economy in Spain hitting many airlines very hard.