Gogo announced another round of Covid-related cuts Thursday as the pandemic continues to hammer the airline industry.
The in-flight WiFi maker announced Thursday that it will eliminate 143 full-time positions, roughly 14% of its staff. Gogo, which is headquartered in Chicago but has an office in Colorado, said the layoffs predominantly affect the company's commercial aviation business and will take effect on Aug. 14.
Of those 143 layoffs, a company spokesperson said only about 10 jobs were impacted in Colorado, with the majority coming from the Chicago office.
The cuts come after the company announced in April that it would furlough 60% of its workforce, as well as implement a 20% salary reduction for its executive leadership team and 30% for its CEO. Gogo said Thursday that it will continue "certain furloughs" and maintain salary reductions that were previously announced.
Gogo added that it will also continue to pursue "non-personnel cost-savings levers," such as renegotiating terms with suppliers and delaying aircraft equipment installation.
"As the pandemic continues to impact commercial airline travel, we are taking additional actions as part of our comprehensive 16-lever strategy to reduce costs," CEO Oakleigh Thorne said in a statement. "Based on our current expectations of the scope and timing of a recovery in the industry and our Commercial Aviation business, reducing our workforce has become a necessary step. We do not take this action lightly, but we believe it is critical in our efforts to preserve our financial flexibility, while maintaining the quality of our service and relationships with our customers."
With many travelers opting not to fly amid the coronavirus pandemic, passenger traffic was down 95% in April compared to a year ago. The airline industry doesn't expect business to rebound to pre-Covid numbers until 2024.
Gogo's Business Aviation division is based in Broomfield and has seen its business rebound, even as commercial travel remains slow.
At the heigh of the pandemic in April, 30% of Gogo’s customers chose to reduce their spending through either account suspensions or service-plan downgrades. At the end of June, Gogo said about 60% of those suspended business customers had reactivated their service, with approximately 80% reverting to their original service plan.
Currently, Gogo is only hiring for three positions, all in its Business Aviation division and all based in Colorado.
