Almost 600 UK-based Emirates employees risk losing their jobs after the airline warned its employees of the need to “consider reducing the size of the UK workforce”.

The United Arab Emirates flag carrier stated that quarantine, border controls and other travel restrictions had left passenger demand “extremely subdued”, according to an internal memo seen by The Telegraph.

“We have to reduce the scale of the operation in order to protect our cash flow and safeguard our business, to ensure that we have a viable future,” the staff email read.

The news follows a previous announcement by its president that the coronavirus pandemic could lead to the loss of up to 9,000 of its 60,000 strong workforce.

Speaking to the BBC in July, Sir Tim Clark said the airline would need to “let go of a few more” staff, having already cut a tenth of its staff.

Despite insisting that the airline was “not as badly off as others”, he admitted that about 15 percent of employees would probably be “let go”.

  Emirates Airlines