Dutch airport group Schiphol to cut several hundred jobs

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Royal Schiphol Group, the operator of airports in the Netherlands, said on Friday it will cut several hundred jobs out of a workforce of 3,000 as a result of a loss of traffic amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In an update on trading in the first half of the year, the company said it had seen a 62% drop in passenger traffic from the same period a year ago, leading to a loss of 246 million euros ($292 million). In the first half of 2019, it had a profit of 133 million euros.

"The outlook for the coming years is very uncertain, and depends on the course of the pandemic, whether a vaccine becomes available, international coordination in travel measures, the profile of the economic recovery and behavioural changes by passengers and businesses," it said in a statement.

It intends to cut 25% of costs, including the job cuts, by 2022.

The group also owns airports in Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven. It is majority owned by the Dutch state.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by David Evans)