Dodo Airlines will temporarily lay off 50% of employees starting this week as the airline struggles with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The island-based airlines told Nook News that the reorganization will primarily affect front line workers.
For weeks, Dodo Airline locations across multiple island villages have seen empty airports full of vacant seats, with at most one villager per island opting to use the company’s services.
“To say goodbye to such a large proportion of our employees is a painful decision but one we are required to take,” said pilot and sole remaining employee Wilbur in a press release sent to villagers’ mailboxes.
Dodo Airlines’ parent company, Nintendo, is expected to to patch Orville, the Senior Operations and Administrative Manager, out of Animal Crossing: New Horizons in a future update. Wilbur will temporarily assume responsibility for administrative work as well as piloting all aircrafts.
“I think I get the gist of it,” Wilbur told Nook News. “I ask where they want to go, I tell them if they have a Nook Miles ticket on file, then I frantically slam on the computer keyboard, right?”
Wilbur also added he’s optimistic that this period will expose some redundancies in the Dodo Airline processes. “I noticed Orville always asks our customers to connect to the internet *after* they arrive. Why don’t we just assume they already want to connect *before* they arrive? Seems like a waste of time for everyone…”
We were able to speak with a former employee who wished to remain anonymous. The unnamed individual told us that they’re unconvinced the pandemic was the only cause for the layoff. “I think Wilbur just wanted me gone and this was a convenient excuse.”
