Eastar Jet is cutting one-fifth of its workforce, or around 300 employees, in an effort to ride out the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The size of the layoff is smaller than originally planned as the South Korean low-cost carrier decided to minimize the scale of restructuring and keep as many workers on board through burden-sharing between management and labor. 

According to industry sources, Eastar reached an agreement with labor representatives during a meeting on Monday.

The budget airline suspended all flights for one month until April 25, and previously reviewed a plan to let go of 750 workers, about 45 percent of its workforce.

Eastar Jet is the first domestic carrier to carry out a major layoff due to the coronavirus outbreak.