(TAN): Singapore Airlines Group is set to cut 4,300 positions across its airlines — across Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot — as the industry as a whole tries to weather the Covid-19 crisis.
The Singapore Airlines Group expects to operate under 50% of its capacity at the end of financial year 2020/21 versus pre-Covid levels. Industry groups have also forecast that passenger traffic will not return to previous levels until around 2024.
Relative to most major airlines in the world, the group is in an even more vulnerable position as it does not have a domestic market that will be the first to see a recovery. In order to remain viable in this uncertain landscape, the group’s airlines will operate a smaller fleet for a reduced network compared to their pre-Covid operations in the coming years.
To prepare for this future, the group needs to cut around 4,300 positions across Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot. This has been mitigated by a recruitment freeze that was implemented in March 2020, open vacancies that were not filled, an early retirement scheme for ground staff and pilots, and a voluntary release scheme for cabin crew. Collectively, these measures have allowed the group to cut around 1,900 positions.
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As a result, the potential actual job cuts across the group may be reduced to around 2,400 in Singapore and across its overseas stations.
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said: “When the battle against Covid-19 began early this year, none of us could have predicted its devastating impact on the global aviation industry. From the outset, our priorities were to ensure our survival and save as many jobs as possible. Given that the road to recovery will be long and fraught with uncertainty, we have to unfortunately implement involuntary staff reduction measures.”
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