newstodate.aero

Jun 29, 2020 (newstodate): Seeing its order book running blank, the Danish charter and ACMI carrier Jet Time ended last week with announcing the lay off of 313 out of 342 employees.
   -Our Boeing 737 passenger fleet has been on the ground since March 25. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in closed borders and restrictive travel advice across Europe, and the tour operators had no other choice than to cancel their contracts with Jet Time for the summer season, says Birthe Madsen, Jet Time VP Management Support.
   -We will be able to reactivate our operation within one or two months. However, we would need to rehire our employees and secure the training  programs for cabin and cockpit crew, and in addition we depend on maintaining the aircraft.
   -On June 25, the Danish government presented its relief package to Danish airlines. Unfortunately, the financial help does not benefit the charter airlines, only the scheduled Danish airlines and the domestic routes and local airports.  
   -To avoid redundancies and loss of jobs in Denmark, Jet Time would need long-term full coverage of all costs including salaries. In addition, we would need access to state guarantees -like SAS- to secure sufficient liquidity until the summer 2021, where we expect to resume our charter production.
   -Despite the necessity to lay off nine of 10 employees in our airline, there is no guarantee that this will get us through the coming months. Our situation is critical and you can say that our future lies in the hands of our creditors, lessors, owner and potential relevant financial packages from the Government.  
   -However, we have not given up the hope for dedicated help from the government to the charter airlines, says Mrs Madsen.

   





   Theremaining staff will be dedicated to maintaining only the most essential work to keep the airline and its fleet intact for a future revival, which will in effect arrive only by winter 20/21 or rather summer 2021 as the outlook is now.
   -We had the best-ever H1 results ending February 2020, again proving the successful turn-around of the company launched by early 2017. And then came the coronavirus, Jorgen Holme, Jet Time CEO, told newstodate on April 20.   
   In the fleet of Jet Time are now nine aircraft including three Boeing 737-700 and six Boeing 737-800 aircraft.