9 ms·

KLM to Lay Off 5k Employees Due to Covid-19

89 points by cockpitherald 6y ago

ecmascript 6y ago
More evidence that you never know, there is no such thing as a secure position so if you're dreaming of starting your own thing or venturing into something more unsecure, there is no reason to wait (unless you're saving up for it, or something like that)! If you have the possibility you should definitely reach for it, the greatest risk in life is to never have tried to achieve your dreams.
- gnrlst 6y ago
  Working in a corporation gives you the illusion of security, becoming an entrepreneur gives you the illusion of freedom.
  - bob33212 6y ago
    Corporations are slow and predictable. In that sense they are reliable for income. As soon as they cut expenses like conference or travel or bonuses it is time to look for another job even if they say the cutbacks are temporary. You will have another corporate job with the 4-6 month window of the upcoming job cuts.
    - oillio 6y ago
      Unless the entire industry is in a downcycle and there are no jobs to be had.
- 0xffff2 6y ago
  The airlines have always been extremely cyclical and insecure.
Hokusai 6y ago
> 500 ground positions, 300 cabin crew positions and 300 cockpit positions and approximately 400 positions at KLM subsidiaries and Air France-KLM group functions Non-skilled employees are for a tough ride as a crisis is when most people loses their jobs, and it is when it is more difficult to find a new one. But, this is appalling news for many highly specialized employees. Many of them had a career in fly-related fields. To have skills on an industry that suddenly disappears under your feet is the nightmare of any skilled worker. The software industry slowly re-invents itself, and one needs to keep up to date. But, it has never been such a turning point so fast and that seems that is going to last for long.
- Rainymood 6y ago
  In a capitalistic system no one "really" cares about you, they care about you in proportion of how profitable you are to them.
  - throwaway7281 6y ago
    And that is not per se bad. What is bad is that there no safety net whatsoever and losing a job in the 21st century can feel a bit like having put out out in the desert in the neolithic. Case in point: many European countries with safety nets are just not a cruel place to be at this time.
    - WildGreenLeave 6y ago
      To add to this, The Netherlands has a safety net that is perfectly fine. Is it a lot? No. Is it enough to survive in a normal situation? Yes. I think it makes sense for KLM to lay off those people. A business cannot keep on people if there is no work for them.
  - nlitened 6y ago
    In socialistic system no one “really” cares about you either, I can assure you.
    - 6y ago
alfiedotwtf 6y ago
6000 Quantas staff let go last month. Hard to keep everyone when travel is virtually zero
- madeofpalk 6y ago
  FWIW, Qantas is an an abbreviation (originally Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services), so there's no "U" after the Q.
  - oillio 6y ago
    Interesting. If we are being pedantic, I can't resist: While technically an abbreviation as well, most would call that an acronym.
  - alfiedotwtf 6y ago
    Sorry... I did know that, but I think muscle memory with “u after q” snuck in :)
PeterStuer 6y ago
Air travel is ecologically unsustainable. I would hope the Corona crisis would be the perfect opportunity to wind down this archaic sector and transition that part of the economy to something more future sustainable.
- perfunctory 6y ago
  Not sure why you get downvoted. The pre-corona aviation growth rate was a real problem. > Aviation could consume a quarter of 1.5C carbon budget by 2050 https://www.carbonbrief.org/aviation-consume-quarter-carbon-budget https://www.carbonbrief.org/aviation-consume-quarter-carbon-...
  - PeterStuer 6y ago
    I think many people are still thinking of this as a temporary crisis that hopefully we can forget asap and turn back to "normal" as if this part of 2020 never happened. It is understandable as this crisis has not been easy on anyone. However, I would dare to expect more from a long term policy perspective. There are many things that were unsustainable with our socio-economic lifestyle long before the Corona crisis. While we can not prevent the impacts on the individual people businesses, we could use the funds that are rightfully mobilized to aid them to shape a "new" economy that is more aligned with the coming climate crisis. We did this in the past (also much too late) e.g. with the coal mining sector in Belgium. For a long time we tried to keep that activity alive just because 'jobs, jobs, jobs'. It took decades before politics was ready to stop trowing good money after bad, and create regional re-conversion funds to turn those local economies around and give them a 'new' economic activity model that did have a future. This is why I would advocate a scenario that spend on those people/companies impacted in industries such as aviation to turn them towards to other more sustainable parts of the future economy rather than just keep poring in money to let them cling to an ever more precarious activity.
  - goatinaboat 6y ago
    The pre-corona aviation growth rate was a real problem. The data centre industry emits as much CO2 as aviation, see how far you get on here proposing that we need to do less computing, to save the planet!
quoyn 6y ago
Avianca, the second oldest still operating airline in the world went bankrupt already. KLM is the oldest still operating airline, it'd be crazy if they go bankrupt too!

89 points by cockpitherald 6y ago

More evidence that you never know, there is no such thing as a secure position so if you're dreaming of starting your own thing or venturing into something more unsecure, there is no reason to wait (unless you're saving up for it, or something like that)! If you have the possibility you should definitely reach for it, the greatest risk in life is to never have tried to achieve your dreams.

gnrlst 6y ago
Working in a corporation gives you the illusion of security, becoming an entrepreneur gives you the illusion of freedom.
- bob33212 6y ago
  Corporations are slow and predictable. In that sense they are reliable for income. As soon as they cut expenses like conference or travel or bonuses it is time to look for another job even if they say the cutbacks are temporary. You will have another corporate job with the 4-6 month window of the upcoming job cuts.
  - oillio 6y ago
    Unless the entire industry is in a downcycle and there are no jobs to be had.
0xffff2 6y ago
The airlines have always been extremely cyclical and insecure.

Hokusai 6y ago

> 500 ground positions, 300 cabin crew positions and 300 cockpit positions and approximately 400 positions at KLM subsidiaries and Air France-KLM group functions Non-skilled employees are for a tough ride as a crisis is when most people loses their jobs, and it is when it is more difficult to find a new one. But, this is appalling news for many highly specialized employees. Many of them had a career in fly-related fields. To have skills on an industry that suddenly disappears under your feet is the nightmare of any skilled worker. The software industry slowly re-invents itself, and one needs to keep up to date. But, it has never been such a turning point so fast and that seems that is going to last for long.

Rainymood 6y ago
In a capitalistic system no one "really" cares about you, they care about you in proportion of how profitable you are to them.
- throwaway7281 6y ago
  And that is not per se bad. What is bad is that there no safety net whatsoever and losing a job in the 21st century can feel a bit like having put out out in the desert in the neolithic. Case in point: many European countries with safety nets are just not a cruel place to be at this time.
  - WildGreenLeave 6y ago
    To add to this, The Netherlands has a safety net that is perfectly fine. Is it a lot? No. Is it enough to survive in a normal situation? Yes. I think it makes sense for KLM to lay off those people. A business cannot keep on people if there is no work for them.
- nlitened 6y ago
  In socialistic system no one “really” cares about you either, I can assure you.
  - 6y ago

alfiedotwtf 6y ago

6000 Quantas staff let go last month. Hard to keep everyone when travel is virtually zero

madeofpalk 6y ago
FWIW, Qantas is an an abbreviation (originally Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services), so there's no "U" after the Q.
- oillio 6y ago
  Interesting. If we are being pedantic, I can't resist: While technically an abbreviation as well, most would call that an acronym.
- alfiedotwtf 6y ago
  Sorry... I did know that, but I think muscle memory with “u after q” snuck in :)

PeterStuer 6y ago

Air travel is ecologically unsustainable. I would hope the Corona crisis would be the perfect opportunity to wind down this archaic sector and transition that part of the economy to something more future sustainable.

perfunctory 6y ago
Not sure why you get downvoted. The pre-corona aviation growth rate was a real problem. > Aviation could consume a quarter of 1.5C carbon budget by 2050 https://www.carbonbrief.org/aviation-consume-quarter-carbon-budget https://www.carbonbrief.org/aviation-consume-quarter-carbon-...
- PeterStuer 6y ago
  I think many people are still thinking of this as a temporary crisis that hopefully we can forget asap and turn back to "normal" as if this part of 2020 never happened. It is understandable as this crisis has not been easy on anyone. However, I would dare to expect more from a long term policy perspective. There are many things that were unsustainable with our socio-economic lifestyle long before the Corona crisis. While we can not prevent the impacts on the individual people businesses, we could use the funds that are rightfully mobilized to aid them to shape a "new" economy that is more aligned with the coming climate crisis. We did this in the past (also much too late) e.g. with the coal mining sector in Belgium. For a long time we tried to keep that activity alive just because 'jobs, jobs, jobs'. It took decades before politics was ready to stop trowing good money after bad, and create regional re-conversion funds to turn those local economies around and give them a 'new' economic activity model that did have a future. This is why I would advocate a scenario that spend on those people/companies impacted in industries such as aviation to turn them towards to other more sustainable parts of the future economy rather than just keep poring in money to let them cling to an ever more precarious activity.
- goatinaboat 6y ago
  The pre-corona aviation growth rate was a real problem. The data centre industry emits as much CO2 as aviation, see how far you get on here proposing that we need to do less computing, to save the planet!

quoyn 6y ago

Avianca, the second oldest still operating airline in the world went bankrupt already. KLM is the oldest still operating airline, it'd be crazy if they go bankrupt too!