Singapore Airlines to cut 4,300 jobs due to pandemic

Singapore Airlines Ltd would cut 4,300 positions, or around 20% of its staff, due to the debilitating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on-demand in its history's largest job losses.

After taking into account a recruitment freeze, natural attrition, and voluntary departure schemes, the airline said the potential number of staff affected would be reduced to around 2,400 in Singapore and overseas.

The company reiterated its forecast that it expected to operate less than 50% of its average capacity by its financial year-end of March 31, 2021. It is currently at 8%. The airline has no domestic network and is wholly dependent on international demand when many borders remain effectively closed.

On Thursday, the job losses were the first it had announced since the start of the pandemic, which has seen it raise S$11 billion of equity and debt to shore up its liquidity. "The next few weeks will be some of the toughest in the SIA Group's history as some of our friends and colleagues leave the company," Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Goh Choon Phong said in a statement.