The coronavirus pandemic continues to hit the job markets as world economy remains uncertain. On Tuesday, British Airways parent IAG announced it’s decision to slash up to 12,000 jobs as part of a restructuring forced on the carrier by the fallout from the coronavirus.

IAG, which also notably holds Iberia and Vueling, said in a statement it was taking the decision on the basis that it believed it would be some years before air traffic volumes would return to normal.

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The airline’s chief executive, Alex Cruz, told BA’s 42,000 staff on Tuesday night that the company “must act decisively now to ensure that British Airways has a strong future” and that means more than one in four jobs must be cut.

Cruz said the UK’s flag carrier airline, which has placed 22,600 people on the government’s furlough scheme, “cannot expect the taxpayer to offset salaries indefinitely”.

The Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis for the world. We continue to fly you, our customers, and vital supplies across the world. More information on what we’ve announced visit: https://t.co/tzNSQfIpaM?

— British Airways (@British_Airways) April 28, 2020

“Yesterday, British Airways flew just a handful of aircraft out of Heathrow. On a normal day we would fly more than 300. What we are facing as an airline, like so many other businesses up and down the country, is that there is no ‘normal’ any longer,” Cruz said in a letter to staff .

“We are a strong, well-managed business that has faced into, and overcome, many crises in our hundred-year history. We must overcome this crisis ourselves, too.”

Global aviation consultancy firm CAPA had said in March that ,due to the coronavirus pandemic, most airlines in the world will be bankrupt by the end of May and only a coordinated government and industry action could avoid the catastrophe. “As the impact of the coronavirus and multiple government travel reactions sweep through our world, many airlines have probably already been driven into technical bankruptcy, or are at least substantially in breach of debt covenants,” it stated.

Across the world, airlines have zero to minimal operations in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak which has infected over 3.1 million people across the world.