Watching television surely is a go-to this year. It leads a lot of people to be more updated on daily news including me. That is why I came across this topic.
Figuratively speaking, it looks like COVID – 19 have killed the airline industry this year as a lot of its employees have been retrenched.
The unlikely situation of the airline industry has become the talk of the town as a Cebu Pacific Flight Attendant and YouTube Vlogger “Jen Barangan,” who has more than half of a million followers shared her story of losing her job because of the pandemic caused by COVID - 19.
The airline companies have already done drastic changes just to cope up with their loss. Philippine Airlines (PAL) has already laid off its employees twice this year and a possible third layoff could happen next month, November if the current problem will still continue. Cebu Pacific has also let go of 190 of its employees last March and added more this month of October. Air Asia Philippines on the other hand, has cut off about 260 employees, including some of its cabin crew last June. With this crisis, the trade group estimated that the global airline industry could lose $4.48 billion where the recovery could take at least two years.
With the devious COVID – 19 still lurking around it’s possible that more layoffs could happen. It is very heartbreaking that many lost their jobs this year and probably even felt that they’ve lost their lives as some of the retrenched employees treat their job as their life and not just a career. Just like Ms. Maurice Maureen Avila another former flight attendant who shared her life now on her Facebook account that she has changed her hand-carry luggage into an LPG tank. In her post, Ms. Avila said “I am devastated for two weeks. Nawalan ako ng gana kumain, iyak nang iyak tuwing gabi, at paggising sa umaga, iiyak na naman. Ang sakit sakit.”
These changes that are happening in our lives right now are very surprising and unforgettable. For sure these will go down to history as 17.7 percent of Filipinos were unemployed last April and 7.1 million were underemployed as of July 2020, given the varying working arrangements and reduced working hours being implemented by companies or establishments.
But, as you can read, the mentioned former flight attendants are still encouraging us to not lose hope despite all the mishaps they have been through for this too will pass. Soon, all our wings will take off as it is made to fly anyway, and then we will see the world’s beauty once again.
Click the highlighted texts to know more information.
References
PH aviation industry succumbs to mass layoffs. (2019, December 6). F&B Report Magazine. https://bit.ly/3ovHlga.
Camus, M. R. (2020, 19). Mass layoffs hit PH aviation industry. INQUIRER.net. https://bit.ly/35yTNmv.
Employment situation in July 2020. (n.d.). Philippine Statistics Authority | Republic of the Philippines. https://bit.ly/39gBQg5.
Garcia, V. (2020, October 21). Retrenched flight attendant finds hope, turns to selling LPG to earn a living. INQUIRER.net. https://bit.ly/34yFlvH.
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