Africa’s largest airline is starting to furlough workers as the global travel downturn bites

Africa’s biggest airline, Ethiopian Airlines, has started to furlough workers, including crew members in response to the devastating impact of the coronavirus crisis on the global travel industry. The union, which represents most of the airline’s 8,000 workers, criticized the decision to lay off thousands of employees with no pay for three months and possibly longer in the midst of a pandemic. The decision to furlough workers comes as the airline is under pressure to cancel flights to nations that have substantial virus spreads, including flights to China, despite other similar international airlines do so.