Following the declining demand for long distance travel due to the global economic slowdown, Singapore Airlines (SINGY.PK) is asking its senior pilots to take unpaid leaves. About ten months ago, the company made a similar offer to its junior first officers. SingAir employs 2,350 captains and first officers. During their leaves, the pilots are encouraged to seek temporary employment with other carriers. SingAir clearly has more pilots than it needs. But the company executives believe that this is a temporary phenomenon so there might not be any pilot layoffs.
The lackluster economic environment has caused a drop in business customers while the market for low cost carriers continues to remain robust and the premium airliners, such as SingAir or Cathay Pacific, are bearing the brunt of this fall in demand. Full story
