Stockholm (dpa) - Scandinavian carrier SAS will on Monday halt most of its flights and temporarily lay off about 10,000 employees or "90 per cent of our workforce," chief executive Rickard Gustafson said.
Demand for air travel is basically "non-existent" amid travel bans and recommendations to avoid non-essential trips due to the coronavirus pandemic, Gustafson told a news conference.
"We will maintain a limited network where there are many passengers who need to fly home," he added.
SAS was also willing to negotiate with authorities to keep some domestic flights operating in Norway and Sweden.
The personnel reductions were to be negotiated according to national regulations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, he said, adding that SAS hoped to avoid redundancies.
SAS is mainly owned by Danish and Swedish governments, with their combined ownership making up about a third of the airline.
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