Malaysia Airlines Group(MAG) and the subsidiaries is offering voluntary unpaid leave to all its 13,000 employees effective from this month.
Malaysia Airlines’ top management confirmed to the New Straits Times today that its employees can opt to take up to 3 months of unpaid leave or 5 days of unpaid leave per month.
“We confirm that MAG has given its staff the option to voluntarily take 5 days of unpaid leave per month for at least 3 months, or between 1 and 3 months beginning April.” a Malaysia Airlines spokesperson said.
He said the move was in line with the airline’s reduced operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. To date Malaysia Airlines has cancelled more than 2,000 flights up to April due to travel restrictions imposed by countries within the network.
On March 9, MAG had announced on coming month a 10% reduction of its senior management salary including their allowances.
Group CEO Captain Izham Ismail said the cost-cutting was to cope with the weaker demand for air travel due to the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, Covid-19 has hampered our growth momentum. We need to get ourselves united to combat this crisis. It has been nine weeks, the cashflow is not only affecting MAG but also the (aviation) industry in totality,” he said in a 7-minute video to MAG employees recently.
“Hence, drastic actions need to be taken by all of us. I will reach out to all of you more in the next following days and weeks, what we need to do. It not only affects airlines, but also hotels, retailers, market place and shopping malls,” he added.
Izham said global airlines were forced to undertake cost-cutting measures to preserve cash flow. This included Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Malindo Air.
We know it’s tough .. Hang in there people ! Praying hard the Covid-19 outbreak will be under control soon.
Source : NST