* Menzies lays off over 17,500 employees
* Some layoffs supported by govt schemes
* Says hopes to take back those laid off if business returns
* Company wants to tap into UK's CCFF schemes
* Shares down about 6%
(Adds more detail on nature of cutbacks)
By Yadarisa Shabong
March 27 (Reuters) - Airport services group John Menzies
said on Friday it was laying off more than half its
global workforce to cope with the impact of the
coronavirus-related slump in air travel, adding that it hoped to
hire many staff back in future.
It also said it will need special dispensation to get aid
from a UK emergency fund for which it does not currently
qualify.
Among the biggest providers of fuelling, ground handling,
lounge services and maintenance, Menzies said its volumes had
dropped 20% in the past two weeks as airlines ground flights in
response to faltering demand and government curbs on movement.
"John Menzies Plc has existed since 1833 and been listed
since 1962, but never have we faced such difficult and
unpredictable times," Chief Executive Giles Wilson said in a
statement.
Menzies, which employs over 32,000 employees at more than
200 airports worldwide, said it has reduced headcount by more
than 17,500 and that the reductions are being supported by some
countries' government schemes.
The company said it intended to take as many staff back on
as possible in future, and it later described the reductions as
furloughs and not redundancies.
A company spokeswoman said the company hoped "the vast
majority will be back when flight volumes start to pick up
again".
The company said it was waiting for the refinement of the
eligibility criteria for the COVID Corporate Financing Facility
(CCFF), for which it does not currently qualify.
While it will receive the 80% salary aid on offer from the
British government, a company spokesman said that in terms of
accessing emergency credit, the group was too big to be
classified as a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME), but too
small to have the credit rating necessary for the CCFF.
Britain's state aid programmes for the coronavirus shutdown
carry conditions related to the company's contribution to the
UK, rather than global, economy, and demand that firms were
already on solid financial ground before March 1.
Wilson said Menzies plays an important role in the aviation
supply chain, which includes airlines, airports and service
providers.
"Without these three components of the supply chain working
together, the sector will not function," he said.
Menzies said it was in talks with its lenders as it reviews
all options to shore up liquidity and withstand the impact of
the virus.
Edinburgh-based Menzies was a major British high street name
until the late 1990s, when it reinvented itself as a major
global provider of fuelling and cargo handling for airlines.
Operating in 34 countries for over 500 airline customers,
the company was already struggling last year with weakness in
Europe, lower cargo volumes and fallout from the global
grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX jets.
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan
Harvey and Hugh Lawson)
