Singapore Airlines Cuts Pilot Salaries By Up To 60%

Singapore Airlines announced last week that it needs to trim 25% of its staff and expects to operate roughly 50% of its usual schedule by March 2021.

Now, the airline has reached a deal with its pilot union to prevent most cockpit layoffs by massive salary cuts of up to 60%.

You can access Singapore Airlines here.

Here’s what the Straits Times reports:

Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilots have agreed to take deeper pay cuts of up to 50 per cent so that more of them can stay employed.

This is on top of a 10 per cent cut in the monthly variable component (MVC) of their salaries, The Straits Times has learnt.

With the new agreement reached between SIA and the Air Line Pilots Association – Singapore (Alpa-S), re-employed captains and first officers will see their salaries cut by 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively, starting Oct 1. This includes the 10 per cent MVC cut.

Other captains will take pay cuts of up to 28.5 per cent, while first officers will take cuts of up to 18.5 per cent, depending on their current pay.

Conclusion

The paper also states that the airline has let 50 or so foreign pilots go, and there have been early retirements.

It is probably better for the pilots overall that they temporary slash salaries and keep most employed while waiting for the air travel to pick up. The airline also benefits because it doesn’t need to rehire and possibly put pilots through additional training when the demand eventually returns.

I am glad that the parties were able to reach an agreement acceptable to both parties.