Singapore Airlines calls for trading halt pending announcement

Vivienne Tay

Published Thu, Mar 26, 2020 · 02:23 AM

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) on Thursday morning called for a halt in the trading of its shares pending the release of an announcement. The halt was called at 8.14am before the market opened for trading.

SIA shares closed 10.4 per cent or S$0.61 higher at S$6.50 on Wednesday.

The Business Times reported on Tuesday that the flag carrier's pilots will be placed on compulsory no-pay leave of between four and seven days a month starting April 1. This comes as the airline and its unions work together to save jobs in what has been described as an unprecedented crisis for global aviation amid the novel coronavirus situation.

Just a day before, SIA announced that it was cutting 96 per cent of its planned capacity originally scheduled up to end-April given the further tightening of border controls around the world over the last week.

It is also exploring ways to increase liquidity and reduce capital expenditure and operating costs amid the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, it said in a statement on Monday.