Its my understanding that EAAC are strongly chasing some of the Hadj contracts for 2003, the inbound Hadj movement starts around Feb and usually requires that the airline places some OP BODS in Saudi to coordinate with the contracting airline.
The Hadj is unique and brings with it all sorts of inconceivable problems, therefore IMHO, it would be extremely short sighted to lay off experienced Ops people at this time.
Mutt.