Brazilian airline Varig, which was sold last week, said on Friday it planned to lay off almost 60 percent of its work force as part of a restructuring plan.

The airline said in a statement that it planned to eliminate 5,500 of a total of 9,485 jobs in Brazil, cutting its work force to 3,985.

"Today we begin one of the most important phases of the project of restructuring Varig, promoting the balancing of the company's staff with current operational necessities," Chief Executive Marcelo Bottini said in a statement to employees.

A Brazilian group called Volo do Brasil paid USD$24 million for the carrier last Thursday. Volo, together with US investment fund MatlinPatterson, already controlled Varig's former cargo unit VarigLog.

In a filing last week, Volo said it intended to keep about 2,000 of the airline's employees and eventually rehire some staff as the carrier recovers.