The Brussels Airlines management has presented its turnaround plan to the social partners. With the plan, the Belgian airline wants to pull the company out of the crisis that severely hit the financials of Brussels Airlines. At the same time, the airline focuses on structural profitability in order to enable solid growth. The carrier therefore needs to reduce its overall costs, increase efficiency and productivity.
A sufficiently positive EBIT margin will allow the airline to secure its future, invest in its fleet and to further develop its hub at Brussels Airport. Furthermore, the Belgian home carrier will make sure to continue playing a pivotal role for the Belgian economy and to remain one of the core airlines within the Lufthansa Group.
The main measures of the turnaround plan are: the review of the network by focusing on the market needs and by optimizing the route profitability, the adaptation of the fleet according to the network optimization: from 54 to 38 aircraft (-30%), and the reduction of the personnel costs by reducing the number of jobs by 25%.
Together with the social partners, the number of forced redundancies will be reduced to a maximum extent. The reduction of overhead, operational costs and the increase of operational efficiency, among others, by improving productivity and further standardizing the fleet and the simplification of the employee reward set-up, aiming at remaining an attractive employer while controlling the future cost evolution. Brussels Airlines' intention is to investigate as many solutions as possible to limit the number of forced dismissals.
