ANA Holdings Inc. announced Friday that it will massively scale back hiring for fiscal year 2021, an indication that it sees no swift recovery of air travel demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The parent firm of the nation's major carrier All Nippon Airways -- which temporarily suspended recruiting activities because of the pandemic -- had planned to hire about 3,200 jobs at its 37 group firms.
But the firm said Friday it will continue recruiting for about 100 positions including pilots in training as well as employees with disabilities.
ANA also will not cancel informal job offers it already made to about 600 people, including vocational school students for ground positions, it said.
"It is difficult to see how the outbreak can be brought under control, and there is a surplus of personnel due to the plunge in demand for air travel," an official of ANA Holdings said.
"We respectfully apologize for the difficult decision we had to make," the official continued.
ANA Holdings stopped recruiting new graduates for the first time since the airline suspended hiring cabin attendants for fiscal 2003 and 2004 due to the SARS epidemic and other factors.
The company-wide suspension of recruitment, however, is extremely usual, observers said.
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