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SINGAPORE – Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilots agreed to make deeper pay cuts of up to 50 percent so that more of them can remain employed.
This is in addition to a 10 percent cut in the monthly variable component (MVC) of their wages, The Straits Times found.
With the new agreement reached between the SIA and the Singapore Airline Pilots Association (Alpa-S), re-employed captains and first officers will see their salaries reduced by 60% and 50% respectively, starting October 1. 10 percent MVC cutoff.
Other captains will receive pay cuts of up to 28.5 percent, while senior officers will receive cuts of up to 18.5 percent, depending on their current salary.
In an internal circular, a copy of which was seen by ST, the pilots were told: “We are pleased to announce that a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed with Alpa-S from October 1, 2020 to October 31, 2020. March 2022 the additional pay cuts to avoid further job losses. “
This latest agreement supersedes the previous one from Aug. 6, said SIA senior vice president of flight operations Quay Chew Eng and Alpa-S president Kenneth Lai.
The pay cuts will be reviewed and adjusted if flying hours increase, pilots were told.
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A spokesperson for the SIA confirmed that an agreement has been reached.
He said: “Under today’s agreement, the company will implement additional pay cuts for all remaining pilots at Singapore Airlines and SilkAir beginning October 1, 2020. As a result, this agreement will help mitigate further job losses for our pilots.
“The SIA Group is focused on navigating and overcoming the challenges that lie ahead in this extremely uncertain operating climate.”
ST understands that SIA, which has about 2,600 pilots, has fired about 50 of them, mainly foreigners.
The airline has said it expects to operate at less than 50 percent of capacity by the end of this fiscal year, compared to pre-Covid-19 levels.
It now operates at approximately 8% of its passenger capacity, compared to before the pandemic.
This article was first published in The times of the strait. Permission is required for reproduction.
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