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John Menzies axes staff as coronavirus bites

As the Covid-19 pandemic squeezes its operations around the globe, the aviation services specialist is having to eke out savings beyond its ‘fit for 2020’ plan
March 27, 2020

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has now extended to all of John Menzies’s (MNZS) international operations. Chief executive Giles Wilson says in the group’s entire history “never have we faced such difficult and unpredictable times”.

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This comes as Menzies’ domestic and international airline customers have grounded flights on an “unprecedented” scale. The number of flights handled in the past fortnight has plunged by over 60 per cent, while cargo volumes were down a fifth.

The group is continuing its ‘fit for 2020’ cost-cutting measures, but has reduced headcount by over 17,500 in response to this acute crisis. There are few measures left to preserve cash as non-essential capital expenditure had already been deferred and no final dividend was declared for 2019. The company is hoping to secure emergency government funding ,although it’s not currently eligible for the Covid Corporate Financing Facility.