PALMA DE MAJORCA – Spain’s second-biggest airline Spanair will reduce its workforce from 2,700 to 1,100 and cancel nine routes in reaction to the global airline crisis, the carrier said Wednesday.

The measures will be carried out from January 2009, Spanair told employees and trade unions in Palma de Majorca, where it is based.

The routes to be eliminated include those linking Madrid with Vienna, Munich, Gerona, San Sebastian, Granada and Oviedo, Barcelona with Zurich, and Bilbao with Malaga and Jerez de la Frontera.

Spanair will remain Spain’s second-largest carrier, maintaining more than 80 per cent of its current commercial network with 48 flight destinations.

The company said the cuts would allow it to save EUR 90 million in 2009 to face rising fuel costs and decreasing demand.

[dpa / Expatica]