Norwegian Air Shuttle will gradually cut 85 percent of its flights and lay off 7,300 employees—or 90 percent of its workforce—as stagnating demand and government-enforced travel restrictions worldwide due to the Covid-19 crisis force dramatic measures across the industry.

"What our industry is now facing is unprecedented and critical as we are approaching a scenario where most of our airplanes will be temporarily grounded,” said Norwegian CEO Jacob Schram. “Several governments in Europe have already said they will do everything they can to ensure that their airlines can continue to fly when society returns to normalcy.

Norwegian, which on Thursday said it would ground 40 percent of its long-haul fleet and lay off half its workforce, said its main priority this week lay with maintaining as many scheduled flights as possible to ensure that customers can immediately return to their home destinations. The company said it would work closely with the authorities to arrange flights for the benefit of stranded passengers, if necessary.

“We understand that this extraordinary situation is stressful for our customers, but I want to assure everyone that we are working around the clock to ensure that everyone is taken care of in the best way possible at this time,” said Schram.

Norwegian’s layoffs include pilots, cabin crew, maintenance, and administrative staff. The company has already entered dialogues with union and Health and Safety Executive representatives at all its locations across the network given the differences in layoff procedures from country to country.

With the traffic cuts, as of March 21 the company will primarily fly a reduced schedule domestically in Norway and between the Nordic capitals and cancel all intercontinental flying except flights between Scandanavia and Thailand (last flights at end of March). It said it would operate “some” European flights and that a limited schedule will remain in place until at least April 17. However, it noted it will review that plan on a regular basis in line with changes in travel restrictions and demand.