Tampa International concessionaire ‘at epicenter of pandemic’ lays off 57 workers
April 25, 2020 - NewsLink, an airport concessions business, has permanently laid off 57 workers at Tampa International Airport, due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on business. "U.S. airports are at the epicenter of the pandemic and have experienced substantial disruptions in operations, as well as a reduction in airline flights and passenger traffic. There are numerous government and health directives impacting air travel, and thus directly impacting our business, making it impossible to continue full operations for the time being, including President Trump's extension of the social distancing directives until April 30, 2020," NewsLink said in an April 20 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification sent to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and made public Friday. The Tampa International layoffs included 42 sales associates and 15 utility maintenance clerks. While NewsLink said the layoffs are permanent, the WARN also said NewsLink hopes to be able to offer jobs to the affected employees at some time in the future when air travel returns to full operations.