Martinair Cargo, a subsidiary of Air France-KLM, announced it is scaling back its full-freighter fleet by June 2016, and laying off more than 330 of its employees, including 170 ground staff and 110 crew.

“Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo has decided on a business model, which requires less freighter capacity, rather than a model with no freighters at all,” the group said in a public statement. “The reduction is unavoidable if the cargo business is to be restored to good health.” However, it added that cargo remained a core business for the group.

“The company will do its utmost to reassign ground staff within the KLM Group using existing instruments, the scope of which may be extended to include voluntary redundancy,” Air France-KLM stated. “This will take place in close consultation with the unions and will only apply to employees working in areas where a staff surplus arises.”

A number of voluntary measures for Martinair Cargo’s pilots have already been taken and some have taken steps to join Transavia, despite the carrier being “unable to offer pilots the same salaries they were receiving at Martinair”.

From 2016, Martinair Cargo will operate a fleet of two 777Fs and four 747-400s, supplemented by 15 747 combis.