Airlines “is not going to be what it was”, warned the president of the company

The airline industry is one of the segments of the global economy hardest hit by the coronavirus. Or at least one of the first to feel the impact of a world that practically stopped. Thus, the companies in the sector are experiencing dramatic moments.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) asked governments to “support the airlines” so that they can survive because “they will be vital” at the time the recovery begins, after the overcoming of the coronavirus pandemic. According to IATA, the pandemic will deprive the sector of $ 252 billion of revenue this year. “Our industry has never experienced such a deep crisis,” said IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac.

In this context, Pablo Ceriani, the president of Aerolineas Argentinas, sent a letter to the company’s employees in which he draws a crude description of the hard moment that the industry and the company are going through, but he is optimistic.

“First of all I want to thank you again for the great work done during the last week, in which we managed to bring more than 14,000 Argentines back to their homes. An unprecedented operation that will mark a milestone in the 70 years of our company’s history“begins the text.

Ceriani explained that he received an over-indebted company after four years of “macroeconomic mismanagement and an aero-commercial policy that sought to favor foreign companies at the expense of Airlines.”

Then he gets fully into the situation of the company and the aviation industry, which, in his words, “is currently facing the greatest crisis in its history” with a stoppage of operations that has no history.

“We find practically the entirety of our fleet on land, beyond any special operation that we can carry out. We have to give our best and plan a recovery for which it is important that we can rid ourselves of preconceptions and of uses and customs anchored in scenarios that no longer exist, “he says in one part of the letter.

“Aerolíneas Argentinas is no longer going to be what it used to be, we have to make the company survive, and even to emerge stronger from this situation, “he added.

Ceriani reserved one paragraphs to criticize the management of the company during the government of Mauricio Macri. He assures that before this context he was already dragging a situation “very delicate as a result of long-standing problems aggravated by the previous management”.

The official stressed that the income of the airline at this time of crisis due to the coronavirus is equal to zero and that the operating deficit forecasts have been strongly increased. “A deficit that is very difficult to manage for a National State that has to attend to dramatic social emergencies,” he said. It also anticipates a wave of bankruptcies in the sector globally.

“The great crisis that we are experiencing is going to mean most likely the concentration of the sector in fewer companies but stronger, more competitive. It is in this context that we are going to have to deal with in the future. If we do not adapt to this new reality, we will not be able to build a solid and effective company that can meet the needs for which it was created and which are the reason for our existence. The challenge is no less and the responsibility is very great, “he said.

In closing, the letter has more thanks and a harangue to “defend and move forward” with the company.

Find out the latest on digital economy, startups, fintech, corporate innovation and blockchain. CLICK HERE