Dnata, which employs 45,000 globally across its airport and travel services divisions has revealed the company has been forced to “stand down” a “very substantial number of employees” also revealing a 57 percent fall in annual profit due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.

A Dnata spokesperson said: “In many of our operations we have zero activity/income. Simply put, no business is sustainable on such basis. Further, future activity levels remain unpredictable with varying views as to the longevity of the disruption and subsequent implications of a global recession.

“Given this extraordinary operating environment we have had to take some difficult steps to adjust our business model and work hard as we right size our business for what, right now, is an uncertain future.