Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways told staff on Monday it would temporarily cut salaries by up to 50% for a month due to the impact on its business from the coronavirus outbreak, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

The state-owned carrier, which will suspend its entire passenger network for two weeks from Wednesday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Executives, pilots and engineers will be paid half their basic salaries and cabin crew would be paid 25% less in April, the email said.

Other employees would also have their salaries cut and staff would not be paid their usual transport and other job-related allowances, it said.

“We will need to take some drastic measures to weather the storm over the next few weeks and avoid job losses as much as possible,” Etihad Chief Executive Tony Douglas said in another staff email.