SIA to axe 76 pilots due to surplus

SIA to axe 76 pilots due to surplus
By Yvonne Chan | Posted: 30 January 2013 1815 hrs
     
SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) said on Wednesday that it has taken the difficult decision of asking 76 pilots on fixed-term contracts to leave by end of June.

It said in a statement that it is releasing them before their contracts expire.

The airline had previously been releasing pilots only when their contracts expired.

SIA said it will help the pilots find jobs within the SIA Group and with other airlines.

The airline currently has a surplus of pilots as the global financial crisis of 2009-10 had resulted in excess capacity and slower-than-expected growth.

SIA saw its net profit in the first-half of the current fiscal year ending March fall by 30 per cent on-year. This followed a 69 per cent drop in net profit in the airline's financial year ending March 2012.

It had earlier put in place other measures to address the surplus. These included voluntary no-pay leave and the suspension of cadet pilot recruitment.

No financial details of the cuts have been released.

Leithen Francis, editor of Aviation Week, said: "Things are pretty good in Asia in terms of economic growth but a lot of SIA business is long-haul, places like the Europe and the US where the economic situation is not so good.

"A lot of the growth last year was in short-haul international services, so that means a lot of flights between say Singapore and Malaysia, and Malaysia and Thailand... So even though the market will grow in 2013, we may have a situation where the growth is on short-haul and not so much on long-haul, which doesn't really help Singapore Airlines mainline."

He added: "Another factor why SIA is announcing cuts is because its announced recently that its retiring its five A340 aircraft. These are the non-stop aircraft that flew from Singapore to New York and Los Angeles.

"The fact that its retiring those A340 aircraft means it no longer requires its A340 pilots. So some of the pilots have lost their contracts are A340s pilots, although the majority of the pilots from what I understand are (Boeing) 777 pilots."

Pilots employed on fixed-term contracts make up about 4 per cent of Singapore Airlines' total pilot workforce.

- CNA/al/ac

- wong chee tat :)