Qatar Airways plans to lay off large numbers of its employees

Qatar Airways plans to lay off at least 20 per cent of the airline’s staff, and keep Airbus A380s without flying until late 2021.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said that less than 20% of the group's employees might be laid off, and that the company was in talks with Airbus and Boeing to delay all outstanding aircraft deliveries.

Al-Baker confirmed, on Tuesday, that the national carrier is in talks with the airlines "Airbus" and "Boeing" in order to postpone deliveries of all the suspended aircraft.

In a statement to Reuters, Al Baker warned Airbus and Boeing against refusing the airline’s requests to postpone receiving the planes.

"We are negotiating with Boeing and Airbus to fulfill our request for delay and we hope both products will comply," he said. "You have no alternative to acceptance and if they make compliance difficult ... we will not work with them again."

Whereas, in March, the airline was still operating flights to 170 destinations on 234 aircraft, today there are only 35 destinations.

In mid-April, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expected passenger airline revenue in 2020 to drop by 55 percent, or $ 314 billion, due to Covid-19.