There are some people on this thread who do not seem to have much grasp of the real world of business.
Yes VS did make a profit and has rewarded its' staff accordingly which is a very rare situation in today's world.
However those conditions which enabled it to make a profit do not exist now and therefore like the majority of airlines today, it is having to cut back accordingly. Very sad for those affected but is it better to keep them all on - make bigger losses with bigger cuts down the line?
The acquisition of new aircraft is a completely seperate issue but clearly in their business case it makes sense to them and will hopefully be to the benefit of the company and the staff further down the line.