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Sherif Ussama, the general manager of Blue Air low-cost airline, is getting ready to lay off pilots and flight attendants, after having cancelled all domestic flights and cutting flight capacities by 33%, to the end of "boosting profit".
"The 1.5m-euro profit level of last year cannot be considered as encouraging. I hope that in the wake of all the steps we've taken profit will go up. The crisis is strong and we must adapt to the market situation, as everybody is suffering during this crisis period," stated Sherif Ussama, 37, who took over the company's reins this year.
"The aircraft fleet restructuring will be followed by flight personnel layoffs. For the time being, I cannot specify how many people will leave the company," said Ussama.
Blue Air has 780 employees at present, of whom 107 are pilots and 153 flight attendants, according to the latest data. Should the company decide to make one third of employees redundant, 35 pilots and 50 flight attendants are likely to leave, according to ZF estimates.
"We will downwardly revise passenger and turnover targets in the wake of restructuring steps. The second half does not seem promising, we will have an estimate after completing the restructuring plan," Ussama said.

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