Page 10 - Irish Examiner USA

businessexaminer
10

2020 37% Of Businesses To IAG, the
Aer Lingus Owner Slashing Flight Capacity
28th, Consider Move From parent com-
pany of Aer
October Lingus and
B r i t i s h

| City Centers Airways, has
announced its
EXAMINER b e t w e e n
flight capacity
October and
D e c e m b e r
IRISH will be “no
more than 30%” of what it was during the same period in
2019. As a result, the group “no longer expects to reach
breakeven in terms of net cash flows from operating activi-
ties” over that quarter.
It said in a statement: “Recent overall bookings have not
developed as previously expected due to additional meas-
ures implemented by many European governments in
response to a second wave of Covid-19 infections, including
an increase in local lockdowns and extension of quarantine
requirements to travellers from an increasing number of
countries.
“At the same time, initiatives designed to replace quaran-
tine periods and increase customer confidence to book and
travel, such as pre-departure testing and air corridor
arrangements, have not been adopted by governments as
ver one third of due to employees working their colleagues. quickly as anticipated.”
businesses are plan- from home. “With more and more Revenues at the airline group plunged 83 per cent to $1.4
Oning to downsize Director at Robert Walters companies becoming com- billion (€1.2 billion) in the third quarter amid ongoing glob-
city center offices and shift Ireland, Suzanne Feeney said: fortable with their employees al travel restrictions. IAG reported an operating loss before
to remote working accord- “It’s inevitable that Covid has working from home, it will exceptional items of $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion), swinging
ing to findings from a study forced companies to rethink become the norm for a HQ to from a profit of $1.64 billion (€1.4 billion) a year earlier.
conducted by recruiters their space and logistical only have around 30 per cent Passenger capacity fell by 78.6 per cent in the quarter,
Robert Walters. needs, and the hub and spoke of employees working from while passenger trafficwas down by 88 per cent. Load factor,
‘The Future of Work in model is evolving from what there on a day-to-day basis. a measure of how full flights are, declined by 38.8 points to
UK & Ireland’ shows that 37 it was even a year ago – now “However our research 48.9 per cent. C
per cent of businesses said concentrating on pairing highlights how important it is
they are considering the employee preference for to maintain workplace cul- Over Half Of Irish Adults Forced To Change
move, with only 30 per cent remote work with flexible ture in order to bring the best Staycation Plans With New Covid-19 Restrictions
of the workforce expected to physical workplaces that out of a workforce,” Ms Over half of
remain in city center offices allow them to connect with Feeney added. C adults in
at any one time. Ireland were
The Covid-19 pandemic Ireland The Biggest Eurozone Loser In forced to
made a necessity out of work- No-Deal Brexit Says Central Bank Governor change their
ing from home, but 85 per s t a y c a t i o n
cent of employee expected
flexible arrangements to plans due to
remain in place after the virus i n c r e a s e d
is brought under control. C o v i d - 1 9
The price of renting office r e s t r i c t i o n s
space in city versus rural set- according to a recent study.
tings is a major contributor in 51 per cent of of Irish adults had to change or cancel their
employers plans to shift away plans as the rate of Covid-19 cases increased throughout the
from Dublin, with many con- country.
sidering smaller satellite Prior to the introduction of the nationwide Level 5
offices according to the The Irish Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf has restrictions on October 21st, the country had been operating
research. warned that Ireland will be the eurozone’s biggest loser from a on Level 3 of the Government’s ‘Living with Covid’ plan,
A ‘hub and spoke’ model is no-deal Brexit. meaning non-essential trips outside one’s own county were
also a consideration of some Mr Makhlouf said that if the UK crashes out of the EU with- not permitted.
employers, with workers out a trade deal, it could cause an economic “double whammy” The research conducted by iReach between October 20
being offered the choice of in addition to the fallout from rising number of Covid-18 infec- and 27 asked people if they had any staycation plans ham-
working in either a city cen- tions, according to the Financial Times. pered by recent Covid-19 restrictions, with 36 per cent of
ter ‘hub’ or in a more remote, If the UK exits the EU without a deal by the end of the year,
smaller office in a strategic the new tariffs on goods would hit Ireland’s agricultural and food households saying the move to Level 5 impacted them.
‘spoke’ location. sectors the most, Mr Makhlouf said. The study found that 254,800 adults had to change their
Despite remote working He added that it would also knock two percentage points off staycation plans, with an average booking deposit of €410
becoming a necessary staple the country’s economic growth in 2021. per booking resulting in a loss in spend on total bookings of
in Irish life over the past num- Mr Makhlouf also predicted that in the longer term, London’s over €104 million.
ber of months, 60 per cent of dominant position in Europe’s financial services sector will likely 15 per cent of the study’s respondents said they lost
employers still have reserva- shift slowly to Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris or Amsterdam. C money on deposits or bookings for holidays in Ireland and
tions regarding productivity overseas. C