Last checked at 
* Targets 30% cut in overhead cost base
* Could shed 8,000 jobs
* Cash burn at 250 mln euros of a month
* Shares down 2.9%
(Recasts, adds CEO and analyst comments, updates shares)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Travel group TUI will
cut 8,000 jobs and look to shed 30% of its costs as it gears up
for a July restart to European tourism, the German company said
on Wednesday.
Holiday plans have been put on hold in the face of travel
restrictions aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus,
with British government ministers warning that summer trips to
overseas tourist destinations are unlikely to happen this year.
However, the world's biggest tourism group on Wednesday said
that it had adopted new safety measures and that holidays would
be possible.
"We believe that, (by the) latest, in July we will be open
to resume," TUI Chief Executive Fritz Joussen told reporters,
chiming with comments from the bosses of airlines Ryanair
and IAG in recent days.
With no revenue coming in and coronavirus-related debts to
pay while having to provide customer refunds, TUI is under
severe financial pressure as it burns through 250 million euros
($271 million) of cash a month despite having reduced overheads.
To cope with the downturn TUI said it would aim to cut its
fixed cost base by 30%, which could result in the loss of 8,000
roles, while shedding non-profitable activities and some assets.
TUI shares were down 2.9% at 0932 GMT after reporting an
underlying half-year loss that widened to 813 million euros
($882 million) from about 301 million euros in the same period
last year, including a 470 million euro coronavirus-related hit
in March. Its shares have slumped 70% in the past three months.
"We think that liquidity and leverage remain concerns, given
uncertainty regarding the length of the shutdown and the type
and magnitude of the recovery," Barclays analysts said in a
note.
TUI said that turnover would decline significantly in the
current financial year, with cost savings only partly
compensating for the virus-induced slump.
RECOVERY HOPES
Forced to cancel holidays from mid-March, TUI was granted a
1.8 billion euro German state-backed bridging loan at the end of
March, which it says must be paid back by mid-2022.
However, CEO Joussen said he is confident of a recovery,
forecasting that tourism would be back at 2019 levels by 2021.
He said demand for holidays would be strong once borders reopen
and that there has been intense activity on the TUI website.
"Customers want to go on their holidays," he said.
"Politicians more and more take the view, particularly in
Europe, that free movement is appropriate and adequate when it
is safe."
Asked about the 14-day quarantine rules that the likes of
Britain and Spain have said they will implement, Joussen said
they would be short-lived and it would not make sense for
governments to implement them for the long term.
Customers who do manage to get away on holiday will find
their trips quite different from in the past, TUI said. New
safety measures include temperature checks at airports, staff in
face masks and fewer tables in hotel restaurants.
Joussen said there would also be fewer staff at TUI's
holiday destinations, in line with the proposed job cuts. Of the
8,000 roles that could go, some could be future recruitments
that don't go ahead. Staff levels at TUI fluctuate from 70,000
in the summer holiday season to 60,000 in quieter months.
He said that, while he believed TUI needed to continue to
have its own airline business, the shape of those operations
could be different in future and the company would consider
whether it should own or lease aircraft.
"Selling all the airlines I think is maybe not realistic,"
Joussen said. "Three years ago we had six airlines, now we have
three airlines. Is it right to have three? These are the
questions we need to put forward."
($1 = 0.9215 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah Young
Additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach
Editing by Christopher Cushing and David Goodman)
