Singapore Airlines may cut jobs after first quarterly loss in 5 years

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines Ltd said jobs are likely to be cut as part of a business review Southeast Asia’s biggest carrier has kicked off to revive earnings following a surprise quarterly loss.

The premium carrier’s staff was aware headcount reduction was possible under the process, said chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong at the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association in Cancun, Mexico, yesterday.

The group, including affiliates and units, employed an average 24,350 workers at the end of March last year.

Some jobs might become “irrelevant”, while some workers might need new skills for different tasks, said Goh.

The review process that covers the carrier’s fleet and network started more than six months ago, and Singapore Air had hired external advisers for help, he said.

Singapore Air, which reported its first quarterly loss in five years, is under pressure to reduce costs and revamp its business amid intense competition from regional discount carriers and Middle-Eastern rivals.

Asia’s other marquee carrier — Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd — said last month it would eliminate 600 jobs in Hong Kong as part of the biggest business revamp in two decades as it slipped into a loss for the first time in eight years.

Predicting a challenging year, with passenger and cargo yields — a key measure of profitability in the industry — under stress, Singapore Air said last month that it had set up a dedicated transformation office to conduct a “wideranging review” to better position the group for long-term, sustainable growth.

The net loss in the quarter through March was S$138.3 million (RM427.84 million), the first since the same period in 2012. The company took a provision of S$132 million in the period for competition-related matters. Bloomberg