SIA cuts senior management salaries, offers voluntary no-pay leave scheme

WITH travel demand slumping amid the Covid-19 outbreak, Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be cutting salaries of senior management by between 10 and 15 per cent starting March 1, The Business Times (BT) understands. 

Chief executive Goh Choon Phong will lead with a 15 per cent cut, while the SIA board of directors will take a 15 per cent reduction in fees from March 1. According to a note issued to employees on Friday and seen by BT, executive vice-presidents (VPs) will take a 12 per cent cut, and senior VPs, 10 per cent.

From Apr 1, divisional VPs and VPs will take a 7 per cent pay cut, while senior managers and managers will take a 5 per cent pay cut from May 1.

Meanwhile, the airline group - which also operates regional wing SilkAir and budget carrier Scoot - will be offering a voluntary no-pay leave scheme to staff, who may opt to take no-pay leave of between one week and six months this calendar year. However, employees were assured that they would still have their jobs when they returned if they decide to opt for the scheme.

In recent weeks, the group has moved swiftly to deal with the fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak by cutting capacity as travel demand hit the skids, removing 9.1 per cent in capacity from its group-wide network for the period spanning end-February to May. 

In the note, Mr Goh said: "We will continue to be proactive in implementing measures to meet the evolving challenges. Tough decisions will be needed along the way. Management will take the lead, and all of us must be prepared to make sacrifices. Our priority is to save jobs."

SIA is also engaging its staff unions to discuss additional measures.

SIA shares closed at S$8.00 on Friday, down 32 cents.